Foreign Affairs

Alfie Evans Proved That In The UK, The Government Knows Best

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For the second time in a year, the United Kingdom ordered the death of a two-year-old boy.

Alfie Evans was a critically ill U.K. child whose his parents fought ceaselessly to get treatment, but the government said his condition was too severe and he needed to be killed for the sake of his dignity.

The U.K. was so insistent on his death it wouldn’t let Alfie’s parents take the child elsewhere for treatment, despite Italy granting Alfie citizenship and having transport on standby to fly him to a hospital in Rome.

Alfie survived for nearly a week after doctors removed his life support on a court order — far longer than doctors expected him to.

In defense of this killing, The Independent editor Sean O’Grady claimed the state, not the parents, know what’s best for the child.

“The bottom line is that parents cannot treat their child like an item of personal property with untrammelled liberty,” O’Grady wrote. “Or else there would be no laws against child abuse or cruelty.”

In other words, O’Grady believes the same natural rights, which allow the government to intervene if a parent is abusing a child, also allow it to intervene to stop a parent from helping a child. “No parent can retain or dispose of a mortally ill child as they would a used car. It is stupid to think human life is just another parental chattel,” O’Grady claims further.

Yet in this case, the state, not his mother and father, is the one trying to dispose of Alfie like a used car. O’Grady clearly believes parents are too stupid to know what is best for their child and the government has Alfie’s true interests at heart.

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