2024-04-10 06:28:35
It is an offense punishable by one year of imprisonment and a fine of 30,000 euros, or even three years of imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros when the provocation has been followed by effects. This is the offense of provocation to abandon or abstain from care which was adopted Tuesday by parliament as part of a bill against sectarian abuses to fight against “gurus 2.0” and their so-called natural miracle cures for cancer.
As deputies and senators were unable to agree on this sensitive measure, it was the National Assembly which had the last word. The target is “provocation, by means of pressure or repeated maneuvers” to “abandon or abstain from following a therapeutic or prophylactic medical treatment”, when this abandonment “is presented as beneficial for health”, whereas it can have “particularly serious consequences”.
“Scourge”
“It is imperative to fight against this scourge” of sectarian excesses which “claims thousands of victims each year,” Secretary of State Sabrina Agresti-Roubache pleaded in the Chamber, targeting in particular the “conspiracy sphere” on the Internet.
“It is not the intention of the government to prohibit medical criticism”, “to prevent patients from deciding in full conscience and fully informed to take or abstain from treatment”, nor “to ‘pin down family or friendly discussions,’ she insisted.
Concern about whistleblowers
It thus responded to the concerns expressed in the oppositions, by the rebellious, communist deputies, Les Républicains and Rassemblement national, who warned of a threat to “public liberties” or whistleblowers who criticize the pharmaceutical industry.
Faced with the reluctance of parliamentarians, it took two votes in the Assembly to adopt the main measure of the text at first reading in mid-February. The article, rewritten after being deleted, preserves “freedom of expression” and “the role of whistleblowers”, assured the Renaissance rapporteur of the text, Brigitte Liso (North), who was supported by the deputy socialist Arthur Delaporte.
Psychological influence taken into account
The text also provides for an offense of placement or maintenance in a state of “psychological subjection”, in order to better understand the “specificities of sectarian influence”, according to the government.
Brigitte Liso underlines that “the number of reports” of sectarian aberrations has “almost doubled between 2015 and 2021”, with 4,020 cases recorded in 2021.
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