Bishops speak out as France pushes assisted suicide bill

The National Assembly in France has voted in favor of legalizing assisted suicide, and the bill will now head to the Senate for approval. The Bishops' Conference of France (CEF) condemned the vote, arguing that death is not progress.

Key Takeaways:

• After an initial rejection of the bill to legalize assisted suicide in the Senate, the French National Assembly passed the legislation a second time.

• The bill will now again advance to the Senate for approval.

• CEF has issued a statement condemning the vote.

The Backstory:

In January, the French Senate rejected portions of the legislation which would legalize assisted suicide. It had previously passed the lower house of Parliament by a vote of 305 to 199 in an easy victory. The original draft of the bill would have allowed any French adult diagnosed with a serious, incurable illness that is life‑threatening, advanced, or in its terminal phase to undergo assisted suicide.

Originally, the conservative members of the Senate saw the wording of the bill as too permissive, while socialists were angry that it would be limited solely to those at the end of their lives. Though the two groups rejected the bill for very different reasons, it caused the legislation to fail nevertheless.

It was then sent back to the National Assembly to be amended and voted on again.

The Details:

The National Assembly has since approved the legislation again in a 299-226 vote, though opponents spoke passionately against it.

“You are organizing a right to cause death,” Hanane Mansouri said during the vote. “You claim to defend freedom; in reality, you are installing permanent social pressure on the sick, the elderly, the disabled.”

Yet the legislation still passed, and proponents still complained it was too strict. It would not allow euthanasia, for example, and requires patients to self-administer the fatal drugs. Additionally, psychological suffering is still not permitted for a reason to undergo assisted suicide.

A second bill strengthening palliative care passed unanimously.

A CEF statement applauded the decision to give French citizens better access to palliative care. "It welcomes the fact that the strengthening of palliative care, an essential condition for guaranteeing pain relief and dignified support for every person at the end of life, has been enshrined in law," the statement said. "The effective development of this care throughout the country remains a priority and an imperative of justice."

"[T]he bishops sharply criticized the inclusion of legalized assisted suicide. However, the Conference of Bishops of France reiterates, with gravity, its profound opposition to the adoption of legislation legalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide.

The narrow margin of votes that allowed the text to pass, as well as the steady increase in the number of votes against it, demonstrate a significant division within the national representation.

Such a fundamental question, one that engages the very concept of human dignity and the role of medicine, cannot be decided by such a fragile majority without leaving a profound democratic unease."

Furthermore, the bishops pointed out that lawmakers seemingly ignored concerns from vulnerable communities, like the disabled, and warnings from physicians on how this would negatively affect medical care, by passing the bill. The statement concluded:

"On such a serious issue, the decision to continue moving forward in the absence of broad consensus is deeply concerning. Legalizing assisted dying is not simply a technical adjustment of the law: it is, in reality, an anthropological shift that profoundly alters the very foundations of society.

The Conference of Bishops of France strongly reiterates that deliberately causing death cannot constitute human progress. It hopes that the ongoing parliamentary process will reaffirm that a truly fraternal society is defined by how it cares for its most vulnerable members, not by the ease with which it accepts causing their deaths."

The Bottom Line:

The Senate defeated this bill before, and pro-life advocates must continue to speak out and encourage the same to happen again.