THE GRONINGEN PROTOCOL: It sounds like the title of a Robert Ludlum novel, but it’s not. Hugh Hewitt writes on infant euthanasia in the Netherlands, or what some people are calling “post-birth abortion.”

I don’t know whether this is really illustrative of abortion “mission creep” as some pro-lifers (including Hugh) suggest — I’m not familiar with the Netherlands’ law on abortion, but in general abortion is somewhat harder to get in Europe than it is in the United States (it says here that there’s a 5-day waiting period, and no abortion after 24 weeks, but I haven’t researched the matter beyond a quick Google search). For the rest, I highly recommend Eugene Volokh’s article on slippery slopes.

UPDATE: In a related post, Eric Olsen notes that current U.S. abortion policy is resulting in steadily falling numbers of abortions.

And here’s more on the Dutch policy.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Peter Singer takes another view, reportedly. So long as they’re not animals!

And Diplomad observes a contradiction:

One of the “joys” we Diplomads overseas get to handle are the constant attacks on the USA at the UN and elsewhere from European diplomats, journalists, and NGOs (e.g., Amnesty International) because about 40 US states have the death penalty on their law books, and a few of them, e.g., Texas, Florida, Virginia, Alabama, actually use it . . . .

No country has been more firmly against the death penalty than the Netherlands.

Obviously we should relabel our executions “euthanasia.” To relieve the psychic pain of murderers.