By Sebastien Ostertag
Indeed, as many people have pointed out and will point out in time, those who voted for or abstained on the vote have blood on their hands. Emmanuel Macron has blood on his hands. This law, in what it allows and what it will lead to (as many of its proponents have promised), will be the most extreme euthanasia law.
Before the vote there were a number of speeches, many of which included the classic lies that were made in order to get this horrible bill passed. Multiple speakers including Elise Leboucher, Frederic Valletoux, and others argued that the law was strict and wouldn't impose death upon anyone, or that, as Oceane Godard of the Socialist Party argued, “There is no absolute truth.” All of these are lies that were pushed by the pro-euthanasia activists in order to get enough support for the bill.
Elise Leboucher, one of the sponsors of the bill, told a quick story about a man she knew who recently died. It was a touching story, though at the end of it she admitted that she didn't know if this man would have chosen assisted suicide or euthanasia.
A deputy for Emmanuel Macron's Ensemble party made the argument that this law is similar in its greatness to Robert Badinter's law which prohibited capital punishment. Her comparison is beyond ironic, comparing a law ending killing to a law allowing it. Badinter was also opposed to euthanasia.
Frederic Valletoux, one of the sponsors of the bill, argued that assisted suicide and euthanasia must only be the exception, as in the last resort. This was exactly what Simone Veil, who pushed for the legalization of abortion argued when her bill was being debated. Those who brought up the Veil law also mentioned the right to choose death for themselves, similar to the right to choose abortion.
Karen Erodi of the extreme-left La France Insoumise stated the quiet part out loud when she complained that the délit d'entrave, which would have criminalized attempting to dissuade someone from committing suicide, had been taken out of the bill. She was joined by Sandrine Rousseau of the far-left Ecologiste party who lamented that minors/children won't have access to assisted suicide or euthanasia. Should their parties win next year, we can already expect what they will attempt to pass into law.
The greatest and most thoughtful speeches came from both the right, which includes the far-right Rassemblement Nationale, the right-wing UDR, and the center-right Les Républicains, and the hard left, which includes the GDR (the French Communist party).
Communist deputy Yannick Monnet explained that he was in favor of the legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide, but that he would abstain in the vote due to the fact that his proposal to make sure that everyone wanting death had had the opportunity to access palliative care, which isn't available for a majority of the French people, had been voted down. He explained that the bill was, “A major ethical evolution” for the society and that assisted suicide and euthanasia should remain the “exceptional answer,” meaning the exception.
The speakers for the Rassemblement National and the UDR both gave great speeches against the bill, though the most inspiring was given by LR deputy Justine Gruet who stated that this law “remains the most permissive in the world.” She called out the government and the left for rushing the parliament to pass the bill before the summer and she brought up how the law has no conscience clauses for nurses or religious retirement homes and hospitals. Adults who are under a legal guardianship due to their IQ or some sort of a mental disorder will now be able to ask for suicide even though they can't legally sign anything. There will now be no control requirements to make sure the doctors followed the law until after the death of the patient. Gruet stated before the final vote that,
“Currently if a person tries to commit suicide, society proposes care and accompaniment. If at the moment of doing the act the person hesitates, a jolt of life, in a society of humanity and solicitude, we do not ask the caregiver to push the syringe. Society rests on the same demand: When a human being suffers, it is our duty to help the person through to support, care and accompaniment.
Does fragility diminish dignity? No, human dignity isn't measured, it isn't calculated, it remains intact in the greatest vulnerability. Its the richness of human life. We are preparing to recognize a right to die without guaranteeing the right everywhere of being cared for and accompanied. How (can we) propose death where we haven't fully offered care? Presence is hope. Personally I would never agree to organize the death of somebody. You are building here, and it's so surprising on the part of the left in this session, a societal model of the law of the strongest against the weakest.
A human never abandons another human, it's a fundamental principle that founds our social compact… Tomorrow this bill won't concern abstract principles, tomorrow it will concern someone you know, someone you love, and that day your responsibility will no longer be judicial, it will be deeply human.”
The fight isn't over, as Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu and the Senate President Gerard Larcher are both asking the French Constitutional Council to review the law and to strike down anything that may be unconstitutional. We must hope and pray that they re-establish the rights of religious establishments to operate without being forced to kill, the extension of the conscience rights for all medical professionals as well as protections for adults under guardianship.
To fully repeal this law will require a new government. The next French presidential elections are in April 2027.
We must pray and work for the next government to repeal this horrible law. Should the far-left win, we can be sure that they will extend the “right to suicide” to children and those with only mental illnesses. Worse than that, they will push to criminalize suicide prevention by passing a délit d'entrave. This law could soon become the worst euthanasia law.
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