Belgium has become the first country to allow euthanasia for terminally ill children of all ages, after a heated debate in which critics questioned a child's ability to make the decision to die.
Despite opposition from the Church, which called the move "a step too far", and some pediatricians, parliament adopted the legislation on Thursday by 86 votes to 44, with 12 abstentions.
The ground-breaking legislation makes the largely Catholic country the second after the Netherlands to allow mercy-killing for children, and the first to lift all age restrictions.
Unlike the Dutch across the border, where euthanasia is allowed for children over 12, the law states that any incurably sick child may request to end their suffering if "conscious", and if equipped with "a capacity of discernment".
"It is not a question of imposing euthanasia on anyone ... but of allowing a child not to agonise in pain," said Socialist MP Karine Lalieux ahead of the vote.
Belgium is one of three countries in Europe to allow euthanasia for adults.
Opponents, largely members of centrist Christian-leaning parties, attacked the legislation for failing to set a minimum age for youngsters to be able to request euthanasia.
Saying "the world is watching us in amazement", Christian Democrat Sonja Becq said a child's "capacity of discernment" was a "vague" concept, "a grey area".
"How will a doctor determine whether a child has a capacity of discernment?" she asked.
The law offers the possibility of euthanasia to children "in a hopeless medical situation of constant and unbearable suffering that cannot be eased and which will cause death in the short-term".
Counselling by doctors and a psychiatrist or psychologist is required, as is parental approval.
In recent days, the Catholic Church staged "a day of fasting and prayer" in protest, and this week some 160 pediatricians petitioned lawmakers to postpone the vote on the grounds it was both ill-prepared and unnecessary.
The vote went "a step too far", Belgian bishops said in a joint statement.
They said they feared the legislation would "open the way to handicapped people, people with dementia, the mentally ill or those who are tired of living" to seek mercy-killing.
Critics said the legislation failed to address problems and potential loopholes such as possible discord between the two parents over a child's request to be euthanised.
