What the Netherlands does in these cases, to the dismay of many, is gedogen. It is no coincidence that this word is untranslatable. What it really comes down to is that the Dutch consciously allow what is officially prohibited. The point being that these things are generally prohibited elsewhere as well, but that they happen there regardless, unsupervised. A quick search of the World Wide Web allows us to refine the image of the Netherlands as the Mecca of gedogen.
Abortion is clearly less of an issue than it was in the seventies and eighties.
In any case, the Netherlands no longer leads the way. In the US, the search phrase gedogen takes us to the Seattle Times and 'The slippery slope in a flat land of tulips'. It refers to 'Holland, the acknowledged world leader in euthanasia'. It claims that 900 to 1,000 people are 'helped to die' against their will every year, and that more than half of all deaths are euthanasia cases. Shock, horror - and no hint of further investigation.