Monsignor Pierre d'Ornellas is Archbishop of Rennes and head of the "Bioethics" working group of the Conference of Bishops of France.
Albane Gaillot's bill would like the time limit for abortion to drop from 12 to 14 weeks.
It aims
"to strengthen the right to abortion"
when the problem is that of the deficiencies of our health system.
She takes the problem upside down!
At 14 weeks, if the ethical gravity of the abortion is unchanged, the medical and ethical gravity of the intervention for the woman increases.
This is why the College of Gynecologists-Obstetricians and the Academy of Medicine are opposed to this lengthening.
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Any reflection on abortion considers two human beings: the woman and the one she carries.
For the Veil law of 1975, abortion remained an exception to the fundamental right of
“respect for life from its beginning”
(Civil Code, 16).
Without forgetting the being in gestation, this law took care of the health of the women in distress, and wanted their accompaniment.
Today, the bill pays attention to “women's rights”, without offering them support;
it reinforces the legalization of the forgetting of the being in gestation that a pregnant woman does not forget.
There are pregnancies with painful consequences, sometimes due to lack of responsibility in the affective and sexual relationship.
Hence the importance of educating in this responsibility.
Monsignor Pierre d'Ornellas
Faced with an unwanted pregnancy, the reception of life could be better organized by the State: foster families, adoption, associations.
In 1970, Simone Veil obtained from the President of the Republic the adoption of disabled children by the association Emmanuel SOS Adoption.
There are pregnancies with painful consequences, sometimes due to lack of responsibility in the affective and sexual relationship.
Hence the importance of educating in this responsibility.
How not to accompany women – sometimes minors – who often feel alone to decide: should they have an abortion or keep the child?
This question is not insignificant, so intimate and existential is the link between the woman and the new life within her.
Experience attests to this: according to an IFOP poll of October 2020, 92% of French people believe that
"abortion leaves psychological scars that are difficult for women to live with"
, and 73% think that
"society should help women more women to avoid resorting to termination of pregnancy
.
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Support is a right.
It respects the woman by allowing her to receive exact and integral information in order to freely discern her own decision.
Time is essential to mature such a choice, both for her and for the man concerned.
This time can lead to the choice of life, which does not lead to psychological injury and which, over time, leaves in peace.
To promote this time by law is to consider the person fairly and to honor his capacity for reflection.
In the European Convention and the Universal Declaration, abortion is not one of the “human rights” and cannot be: it is an exception to the fundamental right to respect for life.
Monsignor Pierre d'Ornellas
To assert that abortion is a "fundamental right" is to trivialize this act which is
"always a tragedy"
(Simone Veil).
In the European Convention and the Universal Declaration, abortion is not one of the “human rights” and cannot be: it is an exception to the fundamental right to respect for life.
The State has the duty to protect this right by a law which educates in the respect of this right.
Promoting respect for the developing being and supporting women in distress testifies to ethical values that reflect a coherent vision of the human being.
This would improve the development of the law in a consensual way between the Senate and the Assembly.
The believer in God does not judge, regardless of the decision made.
He knows that the Love of God excludes no one and invites fraternal and respectful accompaniment.