Rome Newsroom, Jun 30, 2021 / 14:00 pm
A Catholic archbishop said Wednesday that a new law passed by France’s National Assembly has “erased” the foundation of French bioethics.
Archbishop Éric de Moulins-Beaufort, president of the French bishops’ conference, made the comment on June 30, the day after the lower house of parliament definitively adopted a new bioethics law allowing single women and lesbian couples to use state-sponsored medically assisted reproduction, such as in vitro fertilization (IVF).
“The foundation of the ‘French bioethics’ [bioéthique à la française] of which our country was so proud has been erased: the dignity of every human being -- big and small -- is no longer the primary focus,” Moulins-Beaufort, the archbishop of Reims, said.
The law was adopted with 326 votes in favor and 115 against, with 42 abstentions, after two years of debate in parliament. According to the Associated Press, LGBT groups had pushed for the measures since 2013.