J-7 before the vote: SFAP says no to assisted dying

Context

The final vote on the Falorni bill establishing a "right to assisted dying" is scheduled for June 30, 2026. The third reading began on June 22 in the National Assembly, where nearly 1,800 amendments were tabled. The Senate rejected the text twice. The joint committee failed. The bill was adopted in May 2025 (299 votes in favor, 226 against) and then in a second reading in February 2026.

Facts

On June 23, 2026, the French Society for Palliative Care and Support (SFAP) made public its official position: "This text will weaken a society that is already at breaking point." The SFAP represents professionals specializing in end-of-life care. This is not a declaration of confessional inspiration: it is the voice of the palliative medical community as a whole.

Dr. Hubert Tesson, coordinator of palliative care units in Marseille, formulates the diagnosis with precision: the law "marks the victory of technique over the medical art."

Doctrinal Analysis

Evangelium Vitae (n. 65, John Paul II, 1995) rigorously distinguishes "the intention to cause death" from "accompanying natural death." This boundary is not an abstract theological construct: it is a requirement that medicine itself had established within its own ethical frameworks before legislative pressure forced it to reposition itself.

Catholic teaching is consistent on this point: medicine cannot legitimately direct its actions toward the death of the patient, even at their request, without betraying its own purpose. This is not a confessional restriction; it is a requirement of natural law that the SFAP now formulates in medical terms.

Stakes for the Church and the Faithful

The strategic significance of this position is considerable. Since the beginning of the parliamentary debate, supporters of the text had presented assisted dying as complementary to palliative care, not in competition with it. The SFAP has just put an end to this debate.

The question of resources remains unresolved. France devotes notoriously insufficient resources to palliative care. Voting on a law on assisted dying before guaranteeing universal access to palliative care reverses the order of moral and practical priorities.

Critical Reading and Blind Spots

On the parliamentary level, the text presents documented vulnerabilities. Stéphanie Rist, the bill's rapporteur, included the removal of the obstruction offense as an ancillary measure. Opponents see this as a maneuver to "divert attention from everything else." If this interpretation is correct, what will be put to a vote on June 30 goes beyond its title.

The argument of the "right to die with dignity" assumes that death administered by a third party constitutes an act of dignity. The SFAP reverses the proposition: the dignity of end-of-life is built through presence and time, not through the speed of the terminal act.

To Reflect and Act

The novena of prayer launched by the French Bishops' Conference runs exactly until June 29, the eve of the vote. Prayer is not an admission of powerlessness: it is an act of entrustment to Him who holds the hearts of parliamentarians as well as our own.

Contacting one's representative remains possible. Reading the text, understanding the medical arguments, speaking to loved ones about what it means to "die accompanied" rather than "die assisted": this is what the next seven days still allow.