“Every life is a gift to this world,” declaration from the Permanent Council of the Conference of Bishops of France on December 9, 2022, regarding the constitutional right to abortion.
On Thursday, November 24, 2022, the National Assembly voted by a large majority to inscribe the right to abortion in the constitution. On behalf of the bishops of France, we wish to express our concern about what this inscription would signify. We wish to reaffirm what we believe to be fundamental: every life is a gift to this world, a fragile and precious gift, infinitely dignified, to be welcomed and served from its beginning until its natural end.
Today, there are nearly 220,000 abortions per year in France. This is a record number in the European Community, a figure that is not decreasing and even tends to increase. How could we see this dramatic reality as merely the exercise of a right for women or even as progress? Is it not above all a sign of the failure of an entire society to educate and accompany, to support socially, economically, and humanely those who are in need?
The biblical commandment “You shall not kill,” inscribed in every conscience beyond that of believers alone, entrusts every human being to the responsibility of all others. We are, in a certain way, all responsible for these unborn children. Thus, would not true progress be that we could all mobilize together, believers and non-believers, so that the welcoming of life is more aided and supported? Would not the true urgency be to at least help couples or women who, today, do not truly have a choice and cannot keep their child due to the social, economic, and familial constraints weighing on them, and too often on them alone?
We echo the words of Pope Francis, who, always alongside the poorest, wrote in 2013 in his first apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium:
“This defense of unborn life is intimately linked to the defense of all human rights. It presupposes the conviction that a human being is always sacred (…) in any situation and at every stage of development. (…). If this conviction disappears, no solid and lasting foundations remain for the defense of human rights, which would then always be subject to the passing whims of the powers of the moment.” (n°213).
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Alongside many men and women of good will, Catholics will continue to serve these rights and this dignity of the weakest. They also pray for couples and women confronted with the drama of abortion. We reiterate our gratitude to all those who mobilize to help, accompany, listen, support, and console without ever judging, as well as to all elected officials who will have the courage—through their vote and their commitment—to “advance the culture of life” (Pope Francis, General Audience, 02/05/2017).
Archbishop Éric de Moulins-Beaufort, Archbishop of Reims and President of the CEF,
Archbishop Vincent Jordy, Archbishop of Tours and Vice-President of the CEF,
Bishop Dominique Blanchet, Bishop of Créteil and Vice-President of the CEF,
Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, Archbishop of Marseille,
Archbishop Laurent Ulrich, Archbishop of Paris,
Archbishop Dominique Lebrun, Archbishop of Rouen,
Bishop Sylvain Bataille, Bishop of Saint-Etienne,
Bishop Pierre-Antoine Bozo, Bishop of Limoges,
Bishop Alexandre Joly, Bishop of Troyes,
Bishop Matthieu Rougé, Bishop of Nanterre
Declaration available on the official website of the Catholic Church.