Outrage: Sexual Assault of an 11-year-old girl described as "abuse" and not "rape" by French court

by | September 29, 2017 | Uncategorized

A 28-year-old man will be tried on February 13, 2018 in the Parisian suburb of Pontoise for “sexually abusing a minor” after having sex with an 11-year-old girl. The family accuses him of “rape”, but the Pontoise court refutes the charge.
The trial, previously scheduled for September 26th, has been postponed due to the outcry from politicians, associations and the general public, after the case was reported in “Mediapart”, an online news websites.
According to the French Criminal Code (Article 222-23) an act is qualified as rape when “any act of sexual penetration of any kind is committed on another individual by violence, constraint, threat or surprise “. In this particular case, the prosecution considers that the girl was not physically constrained. This argument is cited in rebuttal of “rape”, thereby considering that the girl “consented”. This would constitute a “sexual assault” offense, which is only punishable by 5 years in prison and a fine of 75,000 €.
The girl’s mother claimed that she didn’t protest due to fright and bewilderment at the time of the incident: “She was paralyzed by panic; she didn’t dare move, for fear of being brutalized. She thought it was too late, that she didn’t have the right to protest, that it wouldn’t make any difference, so she went into auto pilot, without emotion, and without reaction.”
The young girl’s attorney, Carine Diebolt asserts that the girl was raped; and therefore the man must be tried before a court of assizes, where he could be liable for a 20-year prison term. She states that the girl’s young age should automatically infer that she was “surprised”, and “constrained» to have sex. “It’s a crime,” she related to French TV channel “BFMTV”. “This is a 28-year-old man, who knew she was only 11 years old. She was intimidated. We invoke the clause of surprise; she did not expect such menacing statements. He was assertive and threatened her reputation. As they both live in the same city, we know very well that the law of silence reigns. “
The French Constitutional Council upheld in their decision dated February 2015: the law “does not set an age for discernment, the courts must assess whether the minor consented to the sexual act in question“.
Hence the question, which transcends the scope of this case: should the law specify a legal age under which sexual consent is never presumed? Former French Minister for Families, Children and Women’s Rights, Laurence Rossignol, now intends to introduce a bill on this subject.
The High Council for Equality between Women and Men recommends a threshold age for presumption of non-consent, as exists in other countries (in 2016, they recommended the limit be set at 13 years of age).

[Press Release] Abortion: Genuine Prevention Policy Urgently Needed

[Press Release] Abortion: Genuine Prevention Policy Urgently Needed

by | September 28, 2017 | Abortion, Maternity, Press Releases

Alliance VITA has renewed its request for the new French government to develop a genuine abortion prevention and provide more balanced information for women with unplanned pregnancies.

With more than 200,000 abortions performed annually, France has one of the highest abortion rates in Europe, as revealed by a comparative study presented to the Senate on July 19, 2017. The abortion rate in France is twice as high as that of in the 2 neighboring countries of Germany and Italy, which have reported a steady decline in abortion in recent years.

Whereas this situation should incite policymakers to work on preventing abortion, Alliance VITA warns on the measures previously introduced in the past 5 years (removing the distress criteria or period of reflection, increasing abortive medication prescribers, unequally reimbursing exams for pregnancy vs. those for abortion which are 100 % reimbursed by state health insurance, etc.), which thereby absolves society of any real means of helping women avoid abortion.

However, according to the survey “French and Abortion” (IFOP poll, Sept. 2016) 72% of those polled, request that “society should help women more in order to avoid having recourse to abortion” and 89% think that “abortion leaves psychological consequences that are difficult for women to live with.”

Alliance VITA also denounces the “outside pressure” put on women to have medically-induced abortions, which are constantly on the rise, and accounted for 64% of abortions in 2016. Falsely publicized for years as “less traumatic”, medically-induced abortions are largely ignored as being a source of suffering, as highlighted by an “INSERM” report.

Carried out prior to 7 weeks of pregnancy in a hospital setting (or prior to 5 weeks at home), this short time-lapse compels women to make a rapid decision. It deprives them of the time to reflect on a complex situation where human lives are at stake, particularly if being pressured by their entourage, especially male, or if experiencing domestic violence.

Pretending to promote gender equality, but denying pregnant women the right to express their abortion-related difficulties, while many men push their companions to have abortions is absolutely unfair. What if men were to get involved in abortion prevention? This is Alliance VITA’s conviction and thus a new prevention campaign was launched targeting men. (campaign site: http://levonslesmalentendus.alliancevita.org/). It remains essential to study the physiological and the psychological consequences of abortion.

In addition, priority should be given to undertake a genuine information policy, notably to reestablish readily available information on assistance and rights for pregnant women. Alliance VITA has been carrying out this public service mission since 2010 to compensate for the government’s lack to readily diffuse this information. (Refer to www.jesuisenceinteleguide.org)

Contraception, sterilization: women fighting for health issues

by | September 23, 2017 | Fertility and pregnancy

On Monday, September 18, 2017, the Bayer laboratory announced that it will stop selling its sterilization implant Essure® in Europe. The controversy surrounding the device has lasted several months, following lawsuits filed by numerous women claiming the implant caused them severe health issues.
This is a first victory for the women filing suit. However, the laboratory said the decision was based only on commercial reason, claiming “the market for its prescription has not been very favorable for the past several months, leading to a continual decreased demand in France”.
In fact, over a thousand women have experienced dysfunction of the implant or adverse side effects between 2003 and February 2017. On August 4, 2017, The National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products ordered taking the implant off the market for 3 months, paradoxically without addressing the device’s risk/benefit ratio.
This is why the Resist Association insists that the product be recognized as being harmful (immense fatigue, ENT problems, bleeding, depression …) which has severely affected some women’s health. According to the association’s president, Mélanie Klein: “These lawsuits will clarify the lack of safety associated with these implants. The Resist Association requests for a centralized system to be created to clarify, coordinate and manage all the patients’ files; thus economizing time and costs for the procedure and for the victims to be compensated without delay. Searching for the truth regarding the harmfulness of these implants is a priority for our association and for women with these implants. We will soon be soliciting an appointment with the French Health Minister.” 
This announcement comes just when the prosecutor’s office had dropped the case investigation on 3rd and 4th generation pills.  Since March 2013, these pills have no longer been reimbursed by state health insurance.
In 2012, Marion Larat, suffered a stroke, attributed to the 3rd generation pill, Méliane®, also manufactured by the Bayer group, thus setting off serious controversies.  One hundred thirty complaints were filed by women taking this type of pill, which involved 8 different laboratories and the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products.
However, after a 4-year investigation, the public prosecutor’s office ruled that there was no criminal offense, and concluding that there was “no cause and effect relationship” between these pills and the serious consequences suffered by the complainants (pulmonary embolism, stroke). However, according to the National Health Authority, a thromboembolism is twice more likely with these pills than with second-generation pills.
In 2012 the conclusions from “the Oversight Commission took into account both the increased risk of venous thromboembolism as well as the absence of demonstrating an increase (in terms of clinical tolerance) for women taking 3rd generation oral contraceptives compared to those from the 1st or 2nd-generation. The medical service offered must thus be qualified as insufficient to be reimbursed by national health insurance”.
Following the public prosecutor’s decision, a lawyer who has defended 84 complainants revealed to France Info that 3 new complaints will now be filed.
How can one understand the difficult hurdles confronting these women just to have consequences to their health symptoms taken into account? It appears difficult to question chemical contraception since ‘the Pill’, is the icon of sexual freedom and represents high profits for the pharmaceutical laboratories.
However, some voices dare to speak out. In her book “I stopped taking the Pill”, published in September 2017, the journalist Sandrine Debusquat carried out a survey on the reasons why fewer women are taking the Pill. She is attempting to shed light on new perspectives. The new generation demands respect for bodily integrity and doesn’t intend to automatically settle for chemical contraception. On September 19, 2017, French newspaper “Le Monde” published an article entitled “Why do women stop taking the Pill?” on the same subject:
“Little by little, the curtain on the ‘tiny’ side-effects will also be pulled back.
For a long time they were suffered silently without questioning, in the name of freedom and peace of mind, which is no longer acceptable. It is inadmissible in 2017 to suffer nausea, weight gain, mood swings or decreased libido from taking hormones. “
A long-overdue debate is just commencing.

French State Council: Dr. Bonnemaison appeals to be reinstated

by | September 22, 2017 | End of life, News

On 13 September 2017, the public rapporteur for the French State Council recommended refusing Dr. Nicolas Bonnemaison’s appeal, who contested having his license revoked from the Order of Physicians.
As an emergency physician, Nicolas Bonnemaison was originally removed from the Order of Physician’s in April 2014, following accusations of deliberately killing 7 patients in the Bayonne hospital between 2010 and 2011. Although acquitted at the first trial of the Assize Court in Pau, a second trial before the Assize Court in Angers in October 2015 sentenced him to a suspended sentence of 2 years’ prison. After the trial, he requested to be reinstated, but on June 24, 2016, the National Disciplinary Chamber of the Order of Physician’s rejected his appeal.
On September 13th, the public rapporteur agreed with the Disciplinary Chamber of the National Order of Physicians, which refused to re-instate Bonnemaison, and declared that “no legal error had been committed”. In contradiction to Nicolas Bonnemaison’s opinion, the public rapporteur concluded that “the sanction was not out of proportion with the faults committed”.
Dr. Bonnemaison is now contesting the latter decision at the State Council.

Euthanasia: Isn’t there more than one viewpoint?

by | September 15, 2017 | End of life, News, Palliative care

The media have widely broadcast the viewpoints of a woman with a degenerative disease requesting euthanasia, whereas another woman has requested that viewpoints on this sensitive subject be treated in an equal manner.
Anne Bert, a 59-year old woman who has been suffering with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as “Charcot’s disease*” for the past 2 years, has recently made the top headlines in French media.
She is the author of “The Very Last Summer” scheduled to be published on October 4th, following her euthanasia in Belgium.
It is in this context that Axelle Huber asked France Inter radio station last week if they would accept to air her testimony, refusing to hear only one side of the story. Her husband, Leonard, died of Charcot’s disease four years ago. Her message was relayed on social networks: “Thank you for supporting me, so a different viewpoint on euthanasia can be voiced. And to help me to be heard by journalist Léa Salamé Page : does France Inter Radio have the courage to invite me with journalist Nicolas Demorand to give my testimony, for listeners to hear a different viewpoint on euthanasia than that of Anne Bert? (…) My husband Léonard died of Charcot’s disease in 2013. He had just turned 41. ”
In 2016 Axelle Huber published a book entitled “If I Can not Walk, I’ll Run” which relates her four-year struggle against her husband’s illness. Its approach is part of a desire to have a democratic debate on the subject so that all viewpoints may be expressed. Mobilizing for this disease is important to improve these patients’ situation. Some of the challenges are to increase awareness of this disease: to enlist support from public authorities and associations; to give patients, their families and their caregivers some moral support; as well as making every effort to ensure that the physical, moral and spiritual suffering of these patients is taken into account throughout France.