הפרלמנט הצרפתי דן בימים אלו בהצעת חוק חדשה ללגליזציה של התאבדות בסיוע רפואי. ההצעה זו לתמיכתו של הנשיא עמנואל מקרון. החוק יאפשר למבוגרים הסובלים ממחלות חשוכות מרפא וממצבים מסכני חיים לבקש חומר קטלני אותו ייטלו בעצמם או בעזרת צוות רפואי. מטרת החוק, לדברי מקרון, היא לקדם את כבוד האדם, והוא גובש לדבריו גם בהשראת המלצות מ"הבונים החופשיים".
בציבור נשמעות דעות חלוקות – יש שמביעים הבנה כלפי סבלם של חולים סופניים, ואחרים מזהירים מפני ההשלכות האפשריות, במיוחד בקרב צעירים.
הצעת החוק עוררה גם ביקורת משפטית ומוסרית. מומחים מזהירים כי שינוי חוקי כזה עלול להפוך את המוות ל"אקט של רצון", מה שיערער את התפיסה המוסרית המסורתית בנושא.
עוד נמסר כי אם החוק יתקבל, ניסיון למנוע מאדם לבצע התאבדות רפואית עשוי להיחשב לעבירה פלילית עם עונש של עד שנת מאסר וקנס כבד. המתנגדים טוענים שמדובר בהפיכת אקט מסוכן לזכות מדומה, שאינה עומדת בקריטריונים של זכויות אדם אוניברסליות. הצבעה על החוק צפויה מחר.
France's parliament is currently examining a bill to legalize assisted suicide. The bill is backed
by President Emmanuel Macron and would allow individuals to receive medical support to end
their lives under specific circumstances. NTT's international correspondent David Vives reports
from Paris. French President Emmanuel Macron announced a bill on assisted suicide currently
debated at the parliament. Macron said it would permit adults suffering from incurable life
threatening illnesses to request help to die. Eligible patients would be able to receive a
lethal substance to administer themselves or with assistance from a doctor or nurse at home or care
centers. Macron said during a speech the bill was in part grafted on recommendations of Freemasons
and promote the human dignity. In Paris the bill is welcomed with mixed reactions.
With some diseases, internal diseases or cancers, people suffer from the moment they get up in the
morning. They really suffer a lot. We need to realize that. Of course, when older people are
doomed by illness, I can understand it. But young people, there is still hope. I find it hard to
think they should end their lives. I've been through the ovation, seeing a relative suffering
at the end of his life. So I support this. Those who ask for this suffer a lot. I also understand
religious people or people who for their own reasons though. With some diseases, terminal
diseases or cancers, patients suffer from the moment they get up in the morning. They really
suffer a lot. We need to realize that. Other European countries besides France go even further
on assisted suicide. In 2024, a case in the Netherlands involved a young woman with depression
and autism who was allowed to receive medical help to die at home. The country reports around
10,000 euthanasia cases each year. Despite strict conditions in France's proposed bill,
medical and legal experts warn it could set a dangerous precedent and make assisted suicide
more widespread. Grégoire Pupinx is the director of the European Centre for Law and Justice.
This bill is so dangerous because its purpose is to change our understanding of relation to death.
The purpose of this bill is to make death an act of the will, not something that you don't control,
not something that comes upon you. So it's to incorporate the death into what we call freedom.
The bill aims to make assisted suicide a human right. This implies it would be illegal to try
to dissuade someone from ending their life if they have expressed the will to do so, Pupinx says.
You would have up to one year of jail and 15,000 euros of penalty. So it's absolutely criminal.
This is an approach that is absolutely criminal. It is a pure demonstration that this is not a
true human right. You don't need any kind of penalty to protect human rights. True human
rights are respected by everyone. It is because this euthanasia, this assisted suicide, is not
real, a true human right, that they need to make it compulsory.
The parliament will vote on the bill on May 27. David Vivès, NTD News, Paris.
