On Sunday, January 19, the 21st annual March for Life was held in Paris. Originally designed to draw public attention to the ravages of abortion—the date was chosen in memory of the adoption by French MPs of the law legalising abortion in 1975—this year’s edition focused entirely on the ongoing debates surrounding euthanasia. The bill introducing euthanasia and assisted suicide in France has been passed by MPs and is now due to be examined by senators.
Ten thousand people gathered in the heart of Paris to reiterate their opposition to the introduction of a ‘licence to kill,’ which until now has been prohibited by French law but has been made a political priority for 2026 by Emmanuel Macron in his New Year’s address to the nation. “We will see through the legislative work on the issue of dying with dignity,” he said at the time, eager to complete the long and drawn-out legislative process to legalise euthanasia, which has been held up for many months due to the turbulent political calendar, early elections, and successive changes of government.
Two bills are concurrent: one, highly consensual, on the promotion of palliative care; the other, more controversial, on the creation of ‘aid to die.’
The movement’s spokeswoman, Geneviève Bourgeois, a geriatrician, said she was alarmed by the “deadly movement that has been taking hold of the collective consciousness for more than fifty years.”
Pro-life advocates against euthanasia are engaged in a fierce semantic battle. In such a debate, every word has meaning and can save lives—or, conversely, hasten death. For example, during the debates, the Senate replaced “the right to assisted dying” with “medical assistance in dying.” For Marie-Lys Pellissier, also a spokeswoman for the movement, the change is not insignificant. “It’s a question of medical assistance, so we consider the act of killing to be a form of care.” This idea that death is a form of care is already present among some feminists, who also describe abortion as “care like any other.”
The participants in the Paris March for Life are young: many children, students, and large families. It is true that the bitter cold of January weeds out all but the most courageous and resilient. The organisers deliberately created a joyful and festive atmosphere to break the label of ‘fundamentalist Catholics’ that part of the press tries to attach to the demonstrators. The Catholic Church was represented by Bishop Rey, former bishop of Fréjus-Toulon, known for his conservative positions and his attachment to traditional liturgy. Before the procession set off—symbolically, a stone’s throw from Les Invalides, the venerable royal institution founded by Louis XIV to welcome the wounded and maimed of war and restore their ‘dignity’—a tribute was paid to Charlie Kirk, who was murdered in September and “died for defending life.”
Among the political figures present were MEPs Margarita de la Pisa Carrión and Laurence Trochu, as well as Jean-Frédéric Poisson, president of the Christian Democratic party VIA. Louis XX, duke of Anjou, legitimist claimant to the throne of France, was there, as he is every year.
Among the crowd, the goals differed from person to person. For some, the fight is primarily political, and they hope that mobilisation in the streets will make enough parliamentarians vote against the law during the last sessions on the agenda of the two assemblies. For others, the fight is being played out elsewhere, in the long term. They realise that the vote is already lost, but that the battle for public opinion must continue in order to remind people of the intangible values of life and love for the weakest members of society, right up until their last breath.
Several very concrete demands were also made throughout the speeches, such as the establishment of a major national plan for palliative care and the absolute guarantee of conscientious objection for all healthcare personnel.
The National Assembly has already voted in favour of the bill, which, if adopted, would be one of the most permissive in the world. The Senate is due to vote on January 28th, before a final review by the National Assembly in February.
