Where can i find a teenager pen pal from europe?

What is it that Americans find so immoral about Europe's laws regarding euthanasia-specifically the most recent Belgian law that allows teens who have constant intense pain from incurable diseases both malignant and non-malignant to have access to euthanasia?

• Are Americans just subjected to more misleading propaganda regarding the healthcare system from their MSM, which makes them believe that doctors can always treat disease in a way that constant severe suffering is avoided or do is it because their religious beliefs somehow make providing mercy to people faced with unimaginable suffering a sin? Or do they simply just drone out when asked to consider the idea a teenager might have an incurable disease that will cause severe constant pain for the rest of their lives- if the teenager in consideration is an American and has a malignant condition he/she is lucky in a perverse way because the pain has an end.  A teen with a non malignant disease faces 60 more years of constant severe pain.  Again do Americans simply just not consider these situations either because of natural stupidity or due to being brainwashed by Fox News?

• Answer:

  At first glance, I thought the intention of the law was to allow parents and doctors to decide to end the life of a child who was terminally ill and in pain, and that the child was also incapacitated or lacking basic faculties, or perhaps so young that they were unable to make or communicate a decision on their own. This is not the case with the proposed Belgian law*. The child in question must be judged capable of understanding what euthanasia is and must request themselves that their life be ended. Parents must approve of the decision. From the various articles I've read, this law does not cover very young children who couldn't be expected to understand or make this kind of decision (though it states no age limit), nor does it cover those children who are unable to make such a decision because the very illness that is killing them has also incapacitated them. Perhaps laws already exist that cover these scenarios - I do not know. This Yahoo article has a concise breakdown of the law: http://news.yahoo.com/belgium-39-child-euthanasia-law-175436745.html Assuming we can agree with existing euthanasia laws in Belgium that cover adults, the question we must struggle with is at what age can a child be allowed to make a decision about their own life and death? From one perspective, you could argue that the Belgian government is placing a responsibility on a child who would otherwise have none. They can't vote or hold a job, but they are mature enough to decide they want to die? It can seem like a strange exception to the near-universal distinction between children and adults that is present throughout most other areas of law. A different perspective might argue that unlike most children - who may want to vote or hold a job but are deemed unfit to do so by society - the children covered under this law are suffering immensely from a terminal illness. Perhaps being faced with intense suffering and imminent death earns these unfortunate children certain rights and responsibilities that children at large are lucky enough to avoid. Under the existing euthanasia law, a child in this situation could not choose to die until they turned 18. This law, from the perspective of supporters, is intended to cover a loophole that exists in the adult euthanasia law. After all, why should a 20 year old possess the right to stop their own suffering, but a 15 year old must suffer until the end? That can almost seem like an unfair burden placed on the young and sanctioned by the state. To be fair, this is a volatile issue for some people and it's very easy to think of worst case scenarios. But if you look to another country with a youth euthanasia law - the neighboring Netherlands - you'd find that only 5 children have died under this law since its passage 14 years ago. (though the Dutch law only covers children 12 and over) http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/13/world/europe/belgium-euthanasia-law-children/ The wording and details of this question may change (as they often do), but I'd also like to let the questioner know that I am an American, born and raised, and I have no difficulty grappling with this issue even if I can't make a black and white proclamation on its efficacy. Understanding this issue requires empathy more than anything, and I'd hope the questioner can realize that empathy is a powerful tool not only for contemplating the dire circumstances of the least fortunate, but also for more trivial matters, like appreciating the viewpoints of people who don't wholeheartedly agree with you, or not stereotyping a group of 313 million people with accusations of moral ignorance. *as of 2/25/14 it has been passed but not signed into law