The sixth session of the Citizens’ Convention on the end of life, which opened on Friday February 17, promises to be decisive with the solemn vote, scheduled for Sunday, of the 184 participants drawn by lot, a majority of whom should decide, barring a reversal more improbable, for an evolution of the law in favor of a “medical assistance in dying”.
A clear trend since early January
But is it really a surprise? On Sunday January 8, at the end of the third session, a first informal vote, proposed at the last minute by the governance committee which organizes the work, had indicated a first movement in this direction. At the question : “Are you, at this stage, in favor of an evolution of the legal framework? »a very large majority – 105 out of 156 voters for 174 registered – declared themselves « pour »THE ” against “ collecting 13 votes, while 38 participants abstained.
A month later, the fifth working session ended on Sunday 5 February with a new vote confirming the trend. Halfway through, 27 participants said they were opposed to any form of active assistance in dying, while 41 were in favor of openness to any request, and 95 in favor of legalization under conditions, two remaining undecided.
Uncertainty about the terms of the change
As for the form that this active assistance in dying could take, here again a clear majority (101 participants) were in favor of authorizing euthanasia and assisted suicide, 30 declaring themselves rather in favor of assisted suicide alone and 5 supporting euthanasia only.
It is difficult to see, therefore, how the vote announced on Sunday February 19 could reverse the course of things. The only uncertainty, but it is significant, concerns the modalities of the implementation of a potential change of law as imagined by the participants. If it is impossible to know the positions of each of the 184 participants, we know that these often turn out to be more nuanced than the simple cleavage of principle, for or against.
How to determine the conditions of access
The majority group of supporters of a conditioned opening is itself divided on the form to adopt (euthanasia, assisted suicide, or both?) as on the limiting conditions of access: Which patients? What age limit? With what medical supervision? According to what procedures? How long between the decision and the final gesture?
So many essential questions which should be the subject of a final deliberation during the work in groups organized this Saturday, February 18 before the debate and the final vote, the following day, during a plenary session in the large hemicycle of the Palais d’ Jena, headquarters of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (Cese) which hosts the Convention.
“Recognize all the nuances”
“But the quest for consensus is not an end in itself, on this subject more than others”emphasizes Claire Thoury, member of the Cese and chairman of the governance committee. “At the end of this weekend, we need to know where we are going. But it will still be necessary to draw up the document which must be delivered to the government on March 19. This must account for all the proposals and all the nuances, including minority ones, which will make it possible to clarify the public decision “she insists.
A way of emphasizing that it is up to President Macron, who convened this Convention on September 13, to decide which recommendations he will retain and whether or not he decides to change the law. The subject of the end of life will also be on the dinner menu to be held at the Élysée on Wednesday February 22 and to which the president has invited several personalities, including representatives of cults. The national citizen debate will then enter a very political phase.