The French Bishops’ Conference (CEF) on Monday called for prayers and fasting in opposition to President Emmanuel Macron’s government’s efforts to enshrine the right to abortion in the French constitution.
On Monday afternoon, the National Assembly and the Senate are scheduled to vote on a bill to amend France’s constitution that would guarantee access to abortion, and is expected to pass.
in post On February 28, Macron said on X (formerly Twitter) that he was “committed to making women’s freedom to have an abortion irrevocable by enshrining it in the Constitution.”
“Our country would have honored itself by promoting the rights of women and children instead,” the bishops declared in their Monday speech. statement.
“France is the only European country in Western Europe where the number of abortions has increased, rather than decreased, over the past two years,” the prelates said.
A participant holds up a religious statue 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)
While many of our members of Congress will no doubt vote for this article in the belief that it affirms an essential right, some believe that a significant number of them will, in fact, feel embarrassed and forced to vote for this article. will vote,” they wrote.
In the face of the proposed amendments, the bishops said they were “servants of each person’s life, from conception to death, and artisans of respect for every human being, which is always given to everyone else.” “This is a gift,” he reiterated his determination.
They also pledged to support “those who choose to keep their children despite difficult circumstances” and to surround “those who have had to resort to abortion” with respect and compassion.
Finally, the bishops ask for grace to enable “our brethren to rediscover the taste of life, of giving life, of receiving life, of accompanying life, of bearing and raising children.” I encourage you to pray.
