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The following article contains mentions of suicide. Reader discretion advised.
France’s lower parliament advanced a bill May 27 that would legalize physician-assisted suicide and, in some cases, euthanasia, according to France 24.
The legislation, which was passed in a 305-199 vote, goes to the Senate for further debate. A finalized vote could take several more months, the outlet reported.
Members of the lower parliament applauded themselves after advancing the bill, according to the X account Catholic Arena, which pointed out in the caption that the Soviet Union and the Nazis were pioneers of euthanasia.
The Catholic Church has always taught that euthanasia, suicide, and physician-assisted suicide are grave evils. Catholic and non-Catholic religious leaders in France spoke out against the bill ahead of the vote.
“Legalising administered death will not signify progress, but an ethical, social, and medical regression,” the Conference of Religious Leaders in France (CRCF) said in a statement, according to the Church Times. “Describing it as ‘natural’ is an untruth that aims to numb consciences and weaken public debate.”
The CRCF’s statement, which includes signatories from Catholic, Orthodox, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, and Protestant leaders, decried the “euphemistic terminology” used in the legislation — which refers to the deadly practice as “assisted dying” — arguing that such vocabulary “defuse[s] the moral gravity” of the practice. They pointed out that many physicians are fearful that legalizing the practice would mark a “radical transgression of their mission,” the Church Times reported.
The new bill stipulates that to be eligible for physician-assisted suicide, a person must be a French citizen over 18 who has been confirmed by a medical team to be suffering from an incurable, serious illness “at an advanced or terminal stage” with pain that is designated as intolerable and untreatable, according to France 24. “Eligible” people can request deadly drugs and must then take “a period of reflection,” which is two days long, according to a May 30 report from the Church Times. After that, they could confirm the request. Upon approval, a doctor would prescribe the deadly concoction, which the person could use to kill himself or herself at home, in a nursing home, or in a health care facility.
If the person is physically unable to take the drugs alone, a doctor will be allowed to carry it out, effectively euthanizing them.
The French bill also stipulates that the patient must make the request and decision freely, without coercion. It should be noted that in Oregon, a state where assisted suicide is legal, 47% of persons who opted for assisted suicide between 1998 and 2023 cited feeling like a burden to friends and family as among their reasons for the request, making it virtually impossible for such laws to guarantee coercion isn’t at play.
The French legislation also does not allow patients with neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s to be eligible for assisted suicide, according to France 24.
But if France joins the ranks of countries that have opened the door to euthanasia or assisted suicide, the “slippery slope” of expanding eligibility parameters to include dementia patients, people with disabilities, or children, may become all too real, much quicker than some may expect.
France 24 reports that the French lower parliament advanced a pro-palliative care bill on the same day as it advanced the assisted suicide bill.
In the neighboring United Kingdom, the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales has spoken out repeatedly against a pro-assisted suicide bill currently under consideration in their parliament. They have urged the government to increase funding for palliative care, so as to increase its availability for patients who are suffering.
“Please remember: be careful what you wish for,” Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster said last year in speaking out against the UK assisted suicide bill, “the right to die can become a duty to die; being forgetful of God belittles our humanity.”
