The French Bishops’ Conference (CEF) called for prayer and fasting Monday in opposition to efforts by the government of President Emmanuel Macron to enshrine abortion rights in the French Constitution.
On Monday afternoon, the National Assembly and the Senate are meeting to vote on the amendment of the French Constitution to include the guarantee of access to abortion, a measure that is expected to pass.
In a post on X (former Twitter) on February 28, Mr. Macron said he is “committed to making women’s freedom to have an abortion irreversible by enshrining it in the Constitution.”
“Our country would have honored itself by instead promoting the rights of women and children,” the bishops declared in Monday’s statement.
“Of all European countries, even in Western Europe, France is the only one where the number of abortions is not decreasing but has even increased over the last two years,” the prelates note.
A protester holds a religious image during a demonstration against abortion and euthanasia, called by the association “La Marche pour la vie” in Versailles, southwest of Paris, on March 4, 2024. (GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT/AFP via Getty Images)
Many of our parliamentarians will surely “vote for this text with the conviction of affirming an essential right,” they write, while some, “quite a few in fact, will vote for it ashamed and forced.”
In the face of the proposed amendment, the bishops reiterate their commitment as “servants of the life of each and every one, from conception to death, artisans of respect for every human being which is always a gift given to all others.”
They also pledge their support of “those who choose to keep their child even in difficult situations” and to surround with respect and compassion “those who have had recourse to abortion.”
In closing, the bishops urge prayers for grace so that “our fellow citizens will rediscover the taste for life, for giving it, for receiving it, for accompanying it, for having and raising children.”
