by Alliance VITA | March 26, 2021 | Euthanasia and Suicide, News
Prior to the upcoming bill to legalize euthanasia in France, which will be debated on April 8th, Tugdual Derville, founder of Alliance VITA’s SOS End-of-Life service, and Dr. Xavier Mirabel, oncologist, and former President and Medical Advisor for Alliance VITA, were auditioned by the French National Assembly’s Social Affairs Committee on March 24, 2021.
Bill No. 288 was submitted by Olivier Falorni (Socialist MP for La Rochelle-Ile-de-Ré) ostensibly to provide the right to a free choice at the end-of-life. According to the text, the bill would allow the use of “medical assistance to end one’s life” in the event of a “serious and incurable” condition, when the patient suffers “a physical or psychological pain deemed to be unbearable, and which cannot be alleviated”.
The Social Affairs Committee examined the bill on March 31st, and it will be debated during the “Liberties and Territories” group’s timeslot in the National Assembly on April 8th.
Several associations have been auditioned, including Alliance VITA, a member of the collective movement “Relieve Suffering Without Killing”. Dr. Mirabel and Tugdual Derville based their viewpoints on:
- the experience of Alliance VITA’s SOS End of Life listening service,
- the survey conducted by Alliance VITA volunteers on the elderly at the end of 2020,
- the association’s campaigns: Speaking about Death and Messages for Life,
- its’ guidebook to advance directives and designation of one’s medical power of attorney,
- its’ recent survey conducted on behalf of “Relieve Suffering without Killing”,
- and by the reports examining and deciphering the serious euthanasia violations in Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Canada.
They gave a point by point rebuttal contesting this pending legislation, considering it to be dangerous and prejudicial, as well as incongruent with medical ethics and the profound expectations of French citizens. They demonstrated that this bill is particularly unwelcome at a time when healthcare workers have rallied together to save lives. They underlined the importance of preventing all forms of suicide, the necessity to provide genuine palliative care, to refuse unreasonable therapeutic obstinacy as well as euthanasia.
by Alliance VITA | March 19, 2021 | Family, News
In France a new bill to protect minors from sexual crimes, offences and incest (# 576) was adopted unanimously by the National Assembly on January 21st, followed by the Senate at first reading on March 15th.
This bill set the limit of “non-consent” at age 15, under which a child cannot be considered to have willingly engaged in a sexual act with an adult. In cases of incest, the age has been set at 18.
This current bill arrives two and a half years after the August 3rd 2018 Law N° 2018-703, known as the “Schiappa Act” intended to strengthen the fight against sexual and gender-based violence. While it has strengthened criminal provisions to protect minors, those involved in child protection were not completely satisfied. Some called for establishing a new offence, or changing the definition of rape, so that it would no longer be necessary to call into question the possible consent of young minors to having sexual intercourse with adults.
The main measures adopted:
New offences and non-consent age limit
In the bill passed on March 15th, a major innovation would penalize sexual acts committed on children for two new offences:
- the crime of raping a minor
- the offence of sexual assault on a minor
With these two new offences, the draft law specifies the age-limit of non-consent at 15 years, or at 18 years for cases involving incest. The crimes of rape and sexual assault will now have autonomous and specific legal definitions, which will be used in court, making it unnecessary to prove that the perpetrator used violence, coercion, threat or surprise.
Oral-genital acts imposed on a victim under the age of 15 are listed among the acts to be considered as rape.
Originally, the bill introduced by Senator Annick Billon (centrist) intended to punish any sexual penetration of minors under the age of 13 as a crime. However, child protection associations retorted that age 13 was insufficient. The bill was largely amended by the National Assembly’s Legal Committee to raise the age of non-consent to 15 and in case of incest to 18.
For these newly established offences against minors, the penalties are stricter.
The penalty for incestuous rape is set at 20 years in prison; for incestuous sexual assault at 10 years; and for sexually abusing minors over age 15, the prison sentence is increased to 5 years.
The draft law also includes a so-called “Romeo and Juliet” clause which states that punishment would only apply when there is an age difference of 5 years or more between the adult and the person under age 15. This clause which aims to avoid criminalizing consensual sex between teenagers and young adults, was hotly debated in the National Assembly and is still strongly criticized by those involved in child protection.
Additional Provisions to Improve Protection of Minors
The statute of limitation for reporting an offence committed against a minor is extended to 10 years for a misdemeanor and to 20 years for a crime.
In addition, a principle of “adjustable statutes of limitations” is instituted for crimes and sexual offences against minors. If the same person subsequently rapes or sexually assaults other minors, the statute of limitations for the first crime is extended to the time limits of the new offence.
Lastly, the list of offences recorded in the criminal file of sexual and violent offenders is to be expanded. Furthermore, if the victim is a minor, the perpetrator is automatically registered. A typical preventive measure is added: a supplementary penalty has been established to prohibit offenders from exercising activities in contact with minors.
On March 25, 2021, the second reading will take place in the Senate. According to the bill’s rapporteur, Alexandra Louis (MP from President Macron’s LREM party), if finally adopted, this bill will mark “a revolution in the Penal Code”.
by Alliance VITA | March 18, 2021 | Euthanasia and Suicide, News
On March 15, 2021, Portugal’s Constitutional Court ruled that the parliament-approved euthanasia bill is unconstitutional.
In February, Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa asked the country’s Supreme Court to evaluate the constitutionality of the parliament-approved euthanasia bill. The President considered that the recently passed bill was particularly vague from a legal standpoint. In his referral to the court, the President underlined the excessively ill-defined concepts of “irreversible injuries” and “unbearable suffering”. The now-rejected law would have allowed using these criteria as justification for practicing euthanasia.
Upon examination, the court indeed found the bill to be unconstitutional. In their ruling, the judges particularly emphasized the lack of clarity for: «permanent injuries of severe gravity according to scientific consensus”. For the tribunal, such wording is too vague, and therefore unconstitutional, to clearly “define with utmost rigor the life situations for which this phrasing could to be applied».
The judges also noted the unclear nature of “unbearable suffering”, but nevertheless they ruled that it can be “determined according to the rules specific to the medical profession, therefore it cannot be considered excessively imprecise”.
The court’s ruling of unconstitutionality was based on how the euthanasia law would be regulated and any ensuing legal uncertainty. According to the court, euthanasia cannot be declared unconstitutional as such, since “the right to life cannot be turned into an obligation to live under any circumstance.” Our democratic and secular society has multifarious ethical, moral and philosophical perceptions of the individual. Based on this fact, the judges consider appropriate to strike a balance between the obligation to protect life and the respect of personal autonomy in cases of extreme suffering.
However, nothing in the court’s ruling indicates that euthanasia is the appropriate means of striking such a balance. In fact, the constitutional court’s analysis could be closer to the principle of abstaining from unreasonable therapeutic obstinacy, which could also prove to be an alternative that doesn’t necessarily lead to euthanasia.
Thus, the euthanasia law passed on January 29th cannot be enforced since it has been found unconstitutional. As a result, the bill will now return to parliament, where the MPs can either drop the bill or change the text and attempt to pass it once more. If the law is voted, the President could again refer the new text to the Constitutional Court. This situation has already occurred once before in Portugal when the surrogacy law was rejected in 2018 and 2019 by the Constitutional Court.
![[Press Release] French Senate Rejects Euthanasia Bill](https://www.alliancevita.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Senat-1080x675.jpeg)
by Alliance VITA | March 11, 2021 | Press Releases, Euthanasia and Suicide
Alliance VITA commends the Senate for rejecting the euthanasia bill tabled by the socialist party and calls for establishing a major national policy to assist those in pain and suffering.
As a member of the collective movement “Relieve Suffering without Killing” Alliance VITA commends the Senate’s rejection of the euthanasia bill tabled on March 11th, during a parliamentary timeslot reserved for the Socialist party. The association also welcomes the long-awaited announcement by the Health Minister to develop a national plan for palliative care. While the government has yet again deferred its Advanced Age and Autonomy Act, Alliance VITA is making a call so that assisting those who suffer, especially the isolated elderly people either at home or in “EPHADs” (nursing home establishments for aged and dependent individuals) be declared of national importance.
Tugdual Derville, a spokesman for Relieve Suffering without Killing, which is sponsored by tetraplegic Philippe Pozzo di Borgo, declares:
“We are far from being the only ones to be shocked that euthanasia activists have chosen this particular time to make a new outbreak in Parliament. With no less than four texts tabled, this onslaught of legislative harassment is particularly scandalous while so many caregivers are fighting to save lives in such difficult conditions.
Although it has been a long time coming, the government’s announcement to develop a national plan for palliative care is commendable. The practice and rationality of palliative care must be extended throughout all our hospital services, so that the French no longer believe that one day they will have to choose between suffering or dying. It is high time that palliative care receives the serious attention it deserves for assisting those who are seriously ill, dependent and/or elderly. It is a shame that the Advanced Age and Autonomy Act has been repeatedly postponed. Too many of our elderly citizens experience a kind of social death, which leads to feelings of despondency, and this was made even worse by the pandemic.
Alliance VITA is also launching a new widespread solidarity campaign (“Always Together” to show the elderly that they have an important place in society. »
On March 10th the results of the IFOP survey carried out at the request of “Relieve Suffering without Killing” was published. This poll reveals where the French place priority for the end of life: no euthanasia, but rather pain care, without unreasonable therapeutic obstinacy and to be accompanied until the end, especially by their loved ones.
Alliance VITA’s SOS End-of-Life Service was created in 2004 to provide support for questions related to serious illness, death and bereavement (www.sosfindevie.org)
by Alliance VITA | February 26, 2021 | Euthanasia and Suicide, News
On March 3rd the Senate Social Affairs Committee is scheduled to examine a bill entitled “the right to die with dignity,” a phrase manipulated to promote the legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide.
Tabled by Marie-Pierre de la Gontrie, a Socialist senator from Paris and 50 of her colleagues, the authors of the euthanasia bill declare they are inspired by the work performed by the Association for the Right to Die with Dignity (ADMD), which campaigns for the legalization of euthanasia.
Under the proposed bill, anyone could seek active assistance in dying if they have at least one serious and incurable condition which “inflicts unbearable physical or psychological pain that the person deems intolerable or places one in a state of dependence that he considers incompatible with their dignity.” One needn’t be at the end of life to make this request. It could even be requested by the individual’s medical power of attorney if he is unable to express his own will, provided that this clause is stipulated in his advance directives. The bill also aims to strengthen the legally binding nature of advance directives, which would be imposed on doctors and enforceable “without being subject to any specific duration of time “. The ensuing death would be classified as “death from natural causes.”
Since President Macron took office, four other proposals have been tabled including one by Jean-Louis Touraine, MP from the Rhône region, co-signed by 162 MPs from the President’s LREM party. MP Olivier Falorni announced that his party (“Liberté et Territoires”) will present a bill on April 8th at their next parliamentary timeslot. Although unlikely to pass, these bills are obviously intended to maintain continued legal pressure.
Alliance VITA considers that a law on euthanasia and assisted suicide is particularly insufferable and indecent, especially after the lessons of the pandemic situation, and the ensuing legal adaptations implemented for accompanying those at the end of life.
This ideological assault clouds the genuine issues related to the end of life. The Covid-19 pandemic has revealed that the French citizens are very attached to those who are vulnerable. It has also demonstrated that current policies for accompanying the ageing and those at the end of life are inadequate. This provides an opportunity to find a new perspective on these issues. Today, the priority is to urgently enact the Advanced Age and Operational Autonomy Act which has been continually postponed since 2019, and to rapidly implement a consequential new plan for implementing palliative care, which has already been held up for three years.
