The French bishops have urged the government not to legalise euthanasia later this year as public consultations on a revision of France’s bioethics law took place around the country.
Holding their spring assembly at Lourdes, the bishops called on citizens and parliamentarians to “stir their consciences so we build a fraternal society where we take care of each other individually and collectively”.
According to opinion polls, the Church faces an uphill battle since growing numbers of French seem to be ready to legalise euthanasia. The current law allows doctors only put terminal patients into deep sedation until death.
The bishops asked how the state could allow euthanasia while also working to prevent suicide. Legalisation would force doctors to see some lives not worthy of being lived, which would go against their Hippocratic Oath, and create “institutions specialised in death”.
Vulnerable patients would be at the mercy of medical personnel, who may accompany them until natural death in one hospital but opt for euthanasia in another.
The statement called for a society that takes care of everyone. "This fraternity inspired the ambition for solidarity in the health system that emerged after the Second World War. What are we doing with that ambition?”
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