Born in May of 2016, Alfie Evans began to suffer from seizures and was admitted into Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, England that December. Ever since, Alfie had depended on life support and then became the centre of a legal court battle between his parents, Kate James and Tom Evans, and the British justice system. The battle focused on the fact that Evan’s parents asked for Alfie to remain on life support while the British courts granted a ruling allowing the hospital to take Alfie off of life support. However, Alfie Evans passed away on April 28 at 2 a.m.

The court battle had divided many in England; some people protested to keep Alfie on life support and others protested to get Alfie off of it. Here, Kayla Solis, 12, shares her opinion on the divide.

“The whole situation is very complicated because off course we all want the child to be safe, and most of us do not want to say ‘oh take that kid off of life support’, but I mean he is suffering and he has been for a while,” Solis said, “At that point I don’t know if people are protesting for the parents or for Alfie.”

The reasons for why the British courts favored for Alfie to get off of life support is because he had been in a coma for well over a year and was often described to in a “semi-vegetative state”. Doctors from Alder Hey said, “it was in his best interest to stop mechanical ventilation.” However, this did not matter since the parents of Alfie Evans still tried to appeal the court rulings twice. Ultimately, Solis’s opinion some-what does capture that of the British courts.

In relation to the viewpoint of Kate James and Tom Evan, Estrella Hernandez, 11,  shares her opinion on the court battle.

“We never know what could happen the next day. I think that is a reason of why Alfie’s parents wanted him to stay on life support for as long as possible,” Hernandez said. “Maybe they didn’t want to be haunted with the what-if’s.”

Alfie’s parents were against from their son being off of life support, for they appealed against the court twice, and got the attention from Pope Francis who said that he would keep Alfie in his prayers. The couple had then decided to transfer Alfie to a hospital in Rome where he could get further treatment but they were denied permission to move their son.  Five days after being cut off from mechanical ventilation, Tom Evans announce the death of Alfie through this message on Twitter, “My gladiator laid down his shield and gained his wings at 02:02 a.m. – absolutely heartbroken.”

In response to the whole legal battle, Julie Quevedo, 10, voices her thoughts on how the situation could have been handled differently.

“I feel like the parents should have not made the legal battle so public. If anything, once the second appeal did not go through, they should have stepped away from the pubic eye and spent the remaining time with Alfie,” said Quevedo. “I’m not saying that they didn’t devote themselves to Alfie but they would have had less pressure to continue the legal battle if it were not for the protest, and instead of being busy with the court, they could have been in the hospital.”

Towards the end of their legal fight, Alfie’s parents were trying to create cases that were not seen as strong enough by the Supreme Court. The reason for this might mirror Quevedo’s opinion that the couple was being influenced and encouraged by the public to continue on. Being religious, Tom Evans recited the Ten Commandments in a court hearing and circled his argument around the sixth that reads, “Thou shalt not kill.”  

Resultievely, the situation with Alfie Evans displayed the battle between law and morals for several protesters in England. However, after the passing of Alfie a crowd gathered around as they paid tribute to the child by releasing a plethora of blue balloons onto the sky’s of the United Kingdom. Now, Alfie’s parents want to find peace with the whole situation by resolving issues that were formed with the hospital.