27 serious problems with France’s assisted suicide bill outlined by Christian legal advocacy group
Caroline MolloyAhead of a crucial reading of a bill to legalize assisted suicide in France later this week, a Christian legal advocacy group has offered a breakdown of the bill highlighting nearly 30 shortcomings in it that will put vulnerable lives at risk.
France’s Senate has already rejected the bill three times, but the National Assembly will hold a final reading on it July 15, a moment when the bill appears to have “legislative momentum” favoring its supporters, according to the news agency Zenit. The “Aid in Dying” Bill has had more than 1,800 proposed amendments and remains strikingly contentious as the July 7 Senate vote was 169-164, with 11 abstentions, Zenit reported.
Ahead of the National Assembly’s reading, however, the European Center of Law and Justice (ECLJ) highlighted in a press release 27 serious issues in the bill, saying they should be sufficient to convince assembly members to reject the bill.
ECLJ: Legalizing assisted suicide could create ‘a right to kill’ amid fiscal interests
In the release, the ECLJ also offered a number of facts that should be taken into consideration — in particular, that 10% of French people are on antidepressants, and that the French Society for Support and Palliative Care has estimated that one million French people could be “eligible” for assisted suicide. Further, legalizing assisted suicide will save an estimated 1.4 billion euros annually in healthcare, elderly care, and retirement costs, according to the ECLJ.
“The so-called ‘freedom to die’ that this law establishes will also — and above all — be a ‘right to kill,’” the ECLJ warned in the release. “The law will be virtually impossible to challenge and to bring justice for all the abuses that this procedure is bound to facilitate and multiply. People who are senile, bedridden, or mentally impaired are particularly at risk under this bill. If passed, the bill will make it possible to eliminate them.”
The organization said it is “already mobilizing” to bring the issue before the Constitutional Council and the European Court of Human Rights, an international court that evaluates alleged violations of civil and political rights in an international treaty called the European Convention on Human Rights.
In the release, the ECLJ outlined the many serious issues in the text, stating, “Anyone who carefully reads the proposed law on ‘aid in dying’ should find it impossible to support.”
An assisted suicide request could be approved, administered within 3 days
Among the serious problems in the bill is that only one physician is required to be directly involved in the whole euthanasia procedure, though the physician must consult with another physician and another healthcare professional before making the final decision. Further, “In practice, the doctor’s affirmation of the patient’s wish to die is sufficient. No witness is required to attest to the authenticity of such a request. In each case, the doctor meets with the person concerned alone,” the ECLJ added. The doctor is not required to be the person’s primary care physician and may meet the person requesting assisted suicide for the first time on the day that the person makes the request.
