An article which, however, is not unanimous.
In a stormy atmosphere, the National Assembly finally approved this Wednesday the creation of a new offense of “provocation to abandonment of care”, in the bill to combat sectarian abuses.
The presidential camp was defeated on Tuesday evening by a coalition of oppositions, which rejected the article, as the Senate did at the end of 2023. But the Macronists requested a new deliberation.
Faced with “gurus 2.0” and their false promises of curing cancer with “mistletoe injections” or “lemon juice”, the executive is holding to this new offense which punishes “provocation by means of pressure or repeated maneuvers » to abandoning care, exposing one to “serious consequences” for health.
This is a specific offense to punish incitement to abandon medical treatment.
Also read: Sectarian deviations: “under the influence” of a magnetizer, Isabelle “fell to the bottom of the hole”
LFI, LR and RN MPs denounce a threat to “public freedoms” and to “whistleblowers” who criticize the pharmaceutical industry.
The article was first rejected by 116 votes to 108.
The announcement of a second vote by Renaissance MP Sacha Houlié, on behalf of the Law Committee of which he is president, immediately provoked indignation among opponents of this article, with calls to order and suspensions of the session.
The RN deputy Thomas Ménage criticized the presidential camp for “disregarding the vote of popular representation”.
The rewritten article
The article modified by the majority was finally adopted by 182 votes to 137, with the support of the PS in particular.
The socialist Arthur Delaporte welcomed the return of this measure, “more necessary than ever” to “defend science” while “people are saying unacceptable things on social networks”.
It was rewritten so that it “does not apply to whistleblowers”, underlined Renaissance rapporteur Brigitte Liso.
The #PJLDérivesSectaires was adopted by the @AssembleeNat ✅
This text is essential to fight more effectively against those who exercise a deadly hold on our fellow citizens.
We had to be there.
I owe this fight to the victims and their families.
https://t.co/VaDKY576xj
— Brigitte Liso (@brigitte_liso) February 14, 2024
This new offense of provoking abandonment or withholding care would be punishable by one year's imprisonment and a fine of 30,000 euros, with penalties increased to three years' imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros when the provocation was followed by effects.
Secretary of State Sabrina Agresti Roubache had underlined the “evolution” of sectarian excesses, in particular the “conspiracy sphere” on the Internet.
Having become a simple deputy again, the former Minister of Health and government spokesperson Olivier Véran also attacked at the end of the session the "gurus" and the controversial professor Didier Raoult, discredited by his peers after having made the promotion of hydroxychloroquine during the Covid-19 epidemic.