Netherland Teen’s Sad End Suggests New Standard in Accepting ‘Right to Die’ By Rachel del Guidice for CNS News
The apparent suicide of a teen in the Netherlands who said she chose to die rather than endure the trauma of being sexually assaulted and raped is a stark example of the continuing deterioration of the sanctity of life.
Noa Pothoven, who was 17, told followers on Instagram that she would end her life.
“Love is letting go, in this case,” Noa wrote in the Instagram post, reported by the New York Post.
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“Maybe this comes as a surprise to some … but my plan has been there for a long time and is not impulsive,” she wrote, saying she was in “unbearable pain.”
“I will get straight to the point: within a maximum of 10 days I will die.”
Noa said she could not live with the trauma of having been sexually assaulted at age 11 at a friend’s party and again a year later at another get-together, then being raped at 14 by two men on the street.
Noa had contacted an end-of-life clinic in The Hague unbeknownst to her loved ones, according to The Sun. Her reported goal: to explore euthanasia as an option.
However, contrary to early news reports, she was not euthanized.
In a prepared statement published last week, the clinic called Levenseindekliniek—its name translated as End of Life Clinic or Life End Clinic—said:
“To put an end to incorrect reporting (in foreign media in particular) about her death, we refer to the statement made by friends of Noa this afternoon: Noa Pothoven did not die of euthanasia. To stop her suffering, she has stopped eating and drinking.”
What is most tragic about Noa’s story is that, reportedly, her parents and doctors resigned themselves to her decision to kill herself after she declined electroshock therapy to treat her suicidal tendencies.
