France’s Catholic bishops have launched a national prayer campaign against government-backed bioethics legislation [1] that would legalise surrogacy and extend abortion, and in vitro fertilization.
The bioethics bill, a flagship commitment by President Emmanuel Macron after his 2017 election, passed in the National Assembly in July and will have its second Senate reading Feb. 2.
It extends the abortion period from 12 to 14 weeks, and in some cases to term, while scrapping an eight-day reflection period and conscientious opt-out right for doctors in France.
Besides extending IVF rights, currently restricted to opposite-sex couples diagnosed with infertility, the measure will also permit surrogacy and authorize “savior siblings,” or embryos created for stem-cell treatment of older children, but the embryos die in the process.
At least a thousand people protested the bill in a Jan. 17 march, with 10,000 taking part via the internet because of Covid restrictions, in what organisers said was a bid supported by most French citizens to “bring a halt to bad policies.”
The bishops’ conference was represented by Archbishop Dominique Lebrun of Rouen at the march. Other church leaders, including Archbishop Celestino Migliore, Vatican nuncio, sent messages of support.