PAV on French abortion bill: There cannot be a ‘right’ to taking a human life
The Pontifical Academy for Life issues a statement confirming the French bishops’ opposition to the amendment that would make abortion a constitutional right.
By Vatican News
The Pontifical Academy for Life (PAV) has expressed its support for the French Church’s strong opposition to a constitutional amendment that would make France the first country to enshrine abortion as a constitutional right.
The bill presented by the government of President Emmanuel Macron has been approved by both the National Assembly and the Senate, and is being discussed this afternoon in a joint session of Parliament for its expected final approval by majority three-fifths.
In the era of universal human rights, there can be no “right” to take a human life.
In a press release published Monday, the PAV echoed the position put forward by the Conference of Bishops of France (CEF) according to which abortion, “which remains an attack on life”, cannot be considered “exclusively under the women’s rights angle. deploring that the proposal “does not mention support measures for those who would like to keep their child”.
The Pontifical Academy insisted that “in the era of universal human rights, there can be no ‘right’ to take a human life.”
“All governments and religious traditions, they declared, must “do their best so that at this point in history, the protection of life becomes an absolute priority, with concrete measures in favor of peace and of social justice and with effective measures for universal access”. resources, education and health care.
Protecting the most vulnerable
“The particular situations of life and the difficult and dramatic contexts of our time must be addressed with the tools of a legal civilization which ensures above all the protection of the weakest and most vulnerable,” declared the PAV.
“The protection of life should be the ‘first objective’ of humanity and is something that can only develop in a global context of conflict and with the fields of science, technology and industry serving both “the human person and fraternity”.
The defense of life is not an ideology
Quoting Pope Francis, the PAV declared that for the Catholic Church, “the defense of life is not an ideology, it is a reality, a human reality which involves all Christians, precisely because they are Christians and because they are human.”
“It is a question of acting on a cultural and educational level to transmit to future generations the attitude of solidarity, care, welcome, knowing well that the culture of life is not the exclusive heritage of Christians , but that it belongs to all those who, working to build fraternal relationships, recognize the value of each person, even the most fragile and the most suffering,” the press release indicates.
