A physically healthy 28-year-old woman in the Netherlands is scheduled to die by euthanasia in May due to mental illness, according to The Free Press.
Zoraya ter Beek suffers from depression, autism and borderline personality disorder. When her psychiatrist told her that they had tried everything and she was never going to improve, she decided to seek death by euthanasia.
“I wish Zoraya knew how much God loved her,” Franklin Graham posted on Facebook Sunday, “and I pray someone can get to her and tell her that He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, from Heaven to Earth so she could have forgiveness of her sins and have a relationship with Him.”
Euthanasia cases comprised more than 5% of deaths in the Netherlands in 2022.
Voluntary euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are allowed in the Netherlands if a physician is “satisfied that the patient’s request for euthanasia is voluntary and well-considered and that his suffering is unbearable with no prospect of improvement,” according to the Dutch government’s website. Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide have been legal in the Netherlands since 2002, and its death toll has steadily increased since.
Ter Beek lives with her 40-year-old boyfriend and their two cats. She once worked toward becoming a psychiatrist, but was unable to finish school due to her mental illness.
“I was always very clear that if it doesn’t get better, I can’t do this anymore,” ter Beek told The Free Press. They plan to have no funeral—her boyfriend will simply scatter her ashes in a special place in the woods.
Critics claim the Netherlands increasingly fosters a climate in which laws, social media and activism destigmatize suicide and encourage it as a viable option for suffering people.
Theo Boer served on a Dutch euthanasia review board from 2005 to 2014 before he resigned. “In those years, I saw the Dutch euthanasia practice evolve from death being a last resort to death being a default option,” he told The Free Press.
Ter Beek said that she is “a little afraid of dying.”
“It’s the ultimate unknown,” she said. “We don’t really know what’s next—or is there nothing? That’s the scary part.”
Franklin addressed these comments in his Facebook post. “God tells us in His Holy Word what’s next. Our soul lives forever, either in Heaven in the presence of Almighty God, or in hell separated from Him for eternity. … I wish she could know His peace in her heart and that she could cast her cares upon Him.
“Would you join me in praying for Zoraya ter Beek today?”
