{"id":229734,"date":"2020-08-27T14:29:59","date_gmt":"2020-08-27T19:29:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=229734"},"modified":"2020-08-26T21:48:06","modified_gmt":"2020-08-27T02:48:06","slug":"belgium-assisted-suicide-approval-autism-depression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/belgium-assisted-suicide-approval-autism-depression\/","title":{"rendered":"Belgium gives assisted suicide approval to woman with autism and depression"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A woman in Belgium received approval from the government to be euthanized whenever she wishes, and is advocating for assisted suicide to be more widely legalized. But Amy de Schutter is not dying, nor is she terminally ill. She has been diagnosed with depression and autism, and therefore, the government says she can be killed whenever she decides she’s ready to die.<\/p>\n

De Schutter previously spoke with the Associated Press<\/a> about her appeal for euthanasia. A physicist and author, she said she had spent years calculating how best to die, and had planned to kill herself before her request for euthanasia was approved. She claims this saved her life. \u201cIt felt like 10,000 kilos was just (lifted),\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Now, as the United Kingdom debates legalizing euthanasia, De Schutter spoke to Sky News<\/a> about her fight to legalize assisted suicide around the world. “I don’t want to die, but I don’t want to live like this,” she said. “It’s unbearable at this moment and it’s been unbearable for a long period of time.” De Schutter was diagnosed with depression as a child, and then autism as an adult, and said she has never been able to find treatment that helps.<\/p>\n