The red line has been crossed: on Tuesday, May 27th, French MPs voted to legalise euthanasia and assisted suicide in French law, by a majority of 305 to 199.
The battle has been long and hard-fought. The reform bill on ‘assisted dying’ was one of Emmanuel Macron’s campaign promises in 2017. It took eight years for the law to be passed, in a maximalist version that now makes France one of the most permissive countries in this area, alongside Belgium and Canada.
As a sign of the deep divisions surrounding the vote, which appealed to each individual’s conscience, no voting instructions were imposed on parliamentary groups. A detailed analysis of the votes cast by MPs reveals a clear Right-Left divide. In the ranks of the Rassemblement National (RN), 101 MPs voted against the law, while 19 approved it. The UDR (Union of the Right for the Republic), allied to the RN, unanimously rejected the text. The centrist groups belonging to the Macron camp presented mixed votes. Some Macronist MPs distinguished themselves in the chamber with passionate speeches against a deadly law designed to sugarcoat a criminal reality. A few scattered voices on the Left resisted. Despite the pressure to conform to progressive orthodoxy, a handful refused to vote for a law they saw as deeply dangerous for the most vulnerable and poorest members of society.
Since the announcement of the vote, a sense of shock has spread among opponents of euthanasia in France. Strong warnings have followed, reflecting a deep and shared concern. The Collectif pour le Respect de la Médecine (Collective for Respect for Medicine) denounced a “sterilised formula” that facilitates access to death and is concerned that, through the offence of obstruction—i.e. trying to prevent someone from choosing assisted suicide—we will end up “criminalising compassion.” Les Veilleurs, a movement born out of the protests against gay marriage, gathered silently in the Place de la Concorde on Tuesday night before being removed by the police.
Within the government, the law is far from unanimously supported. Prime Minister François Bayrou, who opposes euthanasia, announced that he would have abstained if he had had to vote. Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, on his Twitter account, denounced the crossing of a “limit that is unacceptable” and protested against the offence of obstruction and the harshness of the penalties.
There is still a slim hope of stopping this infernal machine. The legislative process is not yet complete, and the bill must be submitted to the Senate for consideration in the coming days. The Syndicat de la Famille (Family Union) reminded the public that all is not yet lost, even if the legislative process generally gives the lower house of the National Assembly the final say over the upper house of the Senate. Rejection of the bill in the Senate could prompt second thoughts among MPs who are still troubled or unsure. In a statement, the Family Union denounced the search for a so-called ‘balance’: “This word is a trap because it assumes that the very principle of euthanasia and assisted suicide is legitimate and that the debate should only focus on the conditions.”
“Euthanasia and assisted suicide are in themselves acts of unspeakable violence. One never kills out of love. Love does not kill. The supreme transgression of the principle “Thou shalt not kill”, valid in all societies and at all times, must remain a cornerstone of our social foundation,”
reads the website of the union, heir to La Manif Pour Tous.
Meanwhile, the media propaganda machine in favour of euthanasia is doing its work. The mainstream press is full of articles overflowing of good intentions, telling us touching stories of people in pain who have been ‘liberated’ by the final injection and whose families rejoice at the vote. These echo the emotional displays of left-wing MPs, who see this as a ‘victory’, accompanied by the tears of a few progressive MPs. As usual with such policies, however, there is little examination of the harmful consequences of their supposed compassion..
On the same day, a law on palliative care, separate from the euthanasia law, was put to the vote and passed unanimously by all 560 MPs. This is an extremely rare occurrence, which highlights all the more the need for parliamentarians to clear their consciences through this frank and overwhelming vote.
