Vote on June 30: France on the brink of the irreversible

Context

Week after week, we had followed the inexorable progress of the bill on assisted dying. The solemn vote in the National Assembly is now set for June 30, 2026. France is about to cross what some jurists are already calling a legislative Rubicon. The High Authority for Health has not waited: it has already listed the lethal substances likely to be used, signaling that the administration is ready well before the vote.

The Facts

The French Bishops' Conference published a solemn statement on June 29, describing the upcoming vote as an act "that will durably commit our society" and calling on each deputy to vote "in conscience." The citizen mobilization on June 28 in Paris brought together between 4,000 and 5,000 people. In the corridors of the Assembly, some deputies display a "gentle contempt" for the religious convictions of opponents—the phrase is from Aleteia, but it reflects the reality of a debate where moral arguments are systematically dismissed as communitarianism. In Quebec, where assisted dying has been legal for ten years, a direct witness tells La Croix: "I do not see the beautiful death."

Doctrinal Analysis

The Church's position is unambiguous. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (no. 2277) states precisely: "Whatever its motives and means, direct euthanasia consists in putting an end to the lives of handicapped, sick, or dying persons. It is morally unacceptable." John Paul II, in Evangelium Vitae (no. 65), recalls that the act of deliberately causing death can never constitute a form of respect for the person. The fact that the law provides for "assisted suicide" rather than a lethal injection does not change the nature of the act: the intention to cause death remains.

The Church's social doctrine further specifies that the role of the State is not to legalize what moral conscience rejects, but to protect the weakest. By opening the door to assisted dying, the legislator does not liberate the sick: it subjects them to new social pressure, that of not "being a burden."

Stakes for the Church and the Faithful

The Little Sisters of the Poor have already warned: they could be forced to close their facilities if the law obliges them to practice or facilitate assisted dying. Bishop Rougé has issued the same alert. It is the institutional freedom of the Church in France that is at stake—its right to care for and accompany without betraying its mission. The text does not provide a sufficiently robust institutional conscience clause to protect faith-based establishments.

Critical Reading and Blind Spots

The reference to "free choice" obscures the systemic pressure exerted on the most vulnerable. The Quebec experience—which proponents of the text refuse to examine honestly—shows a progressive extension of eligibility criteria, what bioethics literature calls "slippery slope." Belgium and the Netherlands offer an even more striking demonstration: assisted dying is now accessible to minors and people suffering from psychiatric disorders. No promoter of the French law seriously addresses this precedent.

To Reflect and Act

Evangelium Vitae (no. 90) reminds us that the force of positive law cannot replace conscience. A few hours remain: write to your deputy, pray, fast. The Church does not resign itself, as its mobilized faithful say. And tomorrow, whatever the outcome of the vote, pastoral, legal, and medical work will continue. Accompanying the dying with skill and faith—that is the Church's response to the culture of death.