THE Catholic Bishops’ Conference of France has urged opponents in the country’s legislature to continue to resist the introduction of assisted dying, after a Bill to legalise it was passed again last week in the Lower House, the National Assembly.
The deputies approved by 299 to 226 the First Reading of the revised Bill, which is backed by the government. An earlier version had been passed by the National Assembly after its First Reading last May, by 305 to 199.
Responding to last week’s vote, the Bishops wrote: “We reiterate our profound opposition to legislation legalising euthanasia and assisted suicide. . . It represents a fundamental anthropological shift that will profoundly alter the foundations of society.
“The narrow margin of votes that allowed the text to pass, coupled with the steadily increasing number of votes against, reveals a significant division between our national representatives. Such a fundamental issue cannot be decided by such a slim majority without perpetuating a deep democratic malaise.”
In January, the Upper House, the Senate, rejected the Bill at its First Reading, and it was revised (News, 23 January). It now comprises two sections: one on strengthening palliative care and another establishing a conditional right to an assisted death.
The Bishops said that they were pleased that provision for palliative care — “a priority and imperative of justice” — had been included in the Bill, first tabled in June 2024. Their statement warned, however, that “specific and well-reasoned warnings” by healthcare professionals, legal experts, philosophers, and patient representatives had been ignored, along with ethical and freedom-of-conscience provisos. The decision to move forward “without a broad consensus” was “deeply troubling”.
The Bill has been supported by President Emmanuel Macron, who described it, in his New Year’s Eve broadcast, as a “law of fraternity”.
Parliamentary opposition to the Bill has increased over the past year. Jewish, Muslim, and Orthodox leaders in France have also voiced opposition.
In January, the United Protestant Church said that its members were “pluralistic in matters of ethics” and did not believe in a “rigid framework” for defining “dignity, individual freedom or collective responsibility”.
