So-called “Assistance in dying”: Opposition is growing
The law establishing the so-called “assistance in dying” adopted at its first reading by the French National Assembly on Tuesday 27th May generated much opposition, from various sides. They are worth quoting and being broadcast, because they are indicative of the importance and the gravity of the upheaval caused by the text, if it reaches the end of the parliamentary procedure.
For tens of years, there has been regular debate in France on the end of life and the legalisation of assisted suicide and euthanasia. The debate has generated intense episodes at times when the media have made much of emblematic cases, in some cases conflictual, public information missions, court cases or investigations of organisations, the voting on several laws concerning medicine and the end of life, events reported from abroad and of course bills (parliamentary initiative) or draft laws (governmental initiative).
The current sequence inaugurated by President Macron’s second term and marked by Advice 139 by the National Consultative Ethics Committee (13th September 2022), the citizens’ convention, and the bill cancelled by the dissolution of the government (Spring 2024) has just seen its first non-decisive conclusion, with the vote, following its first reading, of a law to legalise in France assisted suicide and euthanasia.
Just like Alliance VITA, other associations committed to supporting the lives of the most vulnerable quite naturally were the first to react, in line with their constant commitments, by multiplying their arguments, auditions, symposia, publications, audiovisual productions. Among them, it is essential to mention the Jérôme Lejeune Foundation, the Catholic Family Associations and the Protestant Committee for Human Dignity (non-exhaustive list).
A “Solidarity to the end” collective which includes “Leftist citizens and carers opposing euthanasia » (JABS) published a column in l’Humanité on 11th May: “The left must oppose a validist and antisocial law” which calls for leftist MPs to vote against it.
Whereas euthanasia supporters are attempting to present it as social progress, leftist personalities are challenging it: “No, euthanasia is not a social progress!” is the reply by the organisations and personalities pointing out the “validist and ageist drift of the text, in the context of a health system which is more than degraded [1].
An “official” petition using the petition rights was launched on the National Assembly web-site (access link here).
A strong wind of protestation has arisen among carers, in particular by the Société Française d’Accompagnement et de Soins Palliatifs (French Society for Accompaniment and Palliative Care). Thirteen scientific or union-based organisations of carers have got together for a joint declaration stating that “Administering death is not a treatment [2]. Following on, other calls or manifests have emerged with texts involving mental health professionals: more than “600 psychiatrists against euthanasia” published an appeal: “How can one claim to prevent suicide whilst legalising administered death?” Over four hundred chemists (a health profession deprived of any form of conscience clause) also protested.
People suffering from handicap expressed their fear that the law will lead to profound discrimination against them. Since 2022, the collective Soulager mais pas tuer has undertaken several actions: The appeal by Philippe Pozzo di Borgo, the sponsor of the, “Aidez-nous à vivre, pas à mourir” (help us to live not to die) collective launched in December 2022 attracted over 34,000 signatures. The collective organised a first mobilisation during the world day for the fight against pain “Toujours en vie” (Still alive) followed by a second “Je vis, donc je suis” (I am alive so I am) in April 2023. The tour of France by Caroline Brandicourt in 2023 through the departments devoid of palliative care units also highlighted the deficiencies in the care system. The signatures for the appeal by Philippe Pozzo were submitted to the Elysée palace in April 2024, in protest against the government bill at the time. More recently, with Magali and Cyrille Jeanteur, several hundred people gathered in Paris in front of Les Invalides. Under the name “Les Éligibles (the eligible), the gathering was intended to denounce the stigmatisation which the text of the bill establishes by opening the possibility of assisted suicide for many people suffering from serious disease or handicap. Several associations for the handicapped had already published warnings previously. Thus, the collective “Un gros risque en plus” (another major risk) collected hundreds of signatures through a column published in Le Figaro.
Several personalities have expressed their opposition, analyses and alerts similar to Philippe Pozzo di Borgo (who inspired the story behind the film “Untouchables”), by the author Michel Houellebecq, about a businessman, Alain Minc. Although an atheist, he insisted in an interview on the permissive aspect of the law: “I believe we would be lifting the lid on Pandora’s box. As usual, there will be a gradual broadening of positions, always towards greater permissivity. It will become a licence to kill granted to doctors. The parliamentary debate shows that the safeguards have fallen virtually one after the other”. Members of the CCNE (National Consultative Ethics Committee) had in fact co-signed a note contradicting advice 139 by the committee, which was far from unanimous.
The “Démocratie, Ethique et Solidarité” (DES – Democracy, Ethics and Solidarity) collective, under the leadership of Emmanuel Hirsch and Laurent Frémont, has regularly published columns. In a recent press release, DES recalls that the text of the bill “also challenges the very values and sense of care, relations with others, our human and social solidarities”. 575 jurists, in a column, underlined that “the law on assistance in dying will establish death as a kind of therapy among others”.
Abroad, the Dutch professor Théo Boer came to France to explain his change of heart. As an ex-member of the supervisory commission for the law in Holland which he supported, he now opposes it and warns about the impossibility of controlling the lifting of the prohibition against killing. He bore witness during a mobilisation by Alliance VITA in May 2024, underlining the “ethical populism” subjacent in the bill. Populism, because under the appearance of responding to a “popular” demand, the bill establishes a category of citizens whose death would appear preferable to life.
From a religious point of view, the opposition is unanimous. A common appeal was launched on 15th May. The heads of the main religions in France denounce “the dangers of an anthropological breakdown” [3]. The heads of the Catholic church have incidentally spoken forth constantly and unanimously. The President of the Conference of French Bishops had, moreover, challenged the argument of the “lesser evil” claimed by President Macron in early May.
Points of view are multiplying. They are converging towards a certainty: The resistance to this harmful bill must be maintained in the name of solidarity with the most vulnerable.
[1] Mathieu Bellahsen, a psychiatrist, André Bitton, the President of CRPA and ex-President of the Information Asile group – Lutte et Handicap pour l’Egalité et l’Emancipation collective, Isabelle Hartvig, a care-home resident and militant ; Geneviève Hénault, psychiatrist, Odile Maurin, for the Handi Social collective, Sara Piazza, psychologist, for the JABS collective, Laetitia Rebord, Les Dévalideuses, Elisa Rojas, a lawyer and militant.
[2] SFAP : French society for accompaniment and palliative care ; MCOOR : National Association for coordination doctors in care and medico-social homes; CNPI : National professional college of nursing ; AFSOS : French-speaking Association for oncology support care; FNEHAD : National Federation of home hospitalisation ; UNICANCER : Federation of centres for the fight against cancer ; SPP : French Society for paediatric palliative care; ANFIIDE : French National Association of qualified and student nurses ; ARSLA : Association for research into LAS.
[3] Conference of the Heads of religions in France – Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist.
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