This story shows just how quickly allowing limited mercy killing for terminally ill adults can lead to wider political and social consequences. It’s now common knowledge that euthanasia cases skyrocketed in Belgium after it was legalized for adults—the number of cases increased by 25 percent from 2011 to 2012—and that legality manufactures demand. It’s less often acknowledged that legalizing euthanasia can give cover to people who want to pressure relatives into it for financial or other reasons.

Consider the Netherlands, where doctors are never prosecuted for euthanizing children under age 12, even though that is still legally forbidden. There the illness doesn’t have to be terminal—just very painful—and the Royal Dutch Medical Association says the pain doesn’t even have to be physical. That same association has recently come out in favor of euthanizing infants and newborns, a practice which has already been going on for several years.