Bioethics: on the guard

In the past months, a hot debate on the revision of the bioethics law in France, due to take place in 2010, took place in France, which involved also the French Church. Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, archbishop of Bordeaux and vice-President of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE) reported on the issue during the Plenary that closed in Paris on October 4. “We were not content with drawing up a statement referring to the law’s adoption. We wish to actively take part in the ongoing reflection”, His Eminence said. The context. Given the advances in research, the complexity of the problems and the societal issues at stake, the state has expressed its desire to precede the parliamentary debate regarding the revision of the law on bioethics dating back to 2004 – that replaced the 1999 law – by a “Bioethics General Assembly” to survey officially public opinion. The General Assembly was set up by the French government past February 4 and closed in Paris on June 23. For the Church “this was a highly significant debate. It concerns the very meaning of life, the meaning of the human person and the unavailability of the human body”. Indeed, according to the archbishop of Bordeaux, society expects the Church “to enter the debate – although it may seem surprising in France in our context of secularism”.The procedure. In the Plenary of November 2007 French prelates established a Reflection Group on Bioethics chaired by Msgr. Pierre d’Ornellas, archbishop of Rennes. At the meeting in April 2008, the Group sent to every bishop a first series of fact sheets drawn up with the contribution of doctors and researchers in bioengineering, professors at medical schools, lawyers, theologians and ethicists. In a second phase it focused its research on the forthcoming legislative process, narrowing its scope of observation to the seven topics identified by the Council of Ministers of July 15, 2008: embryonic research, organs harvesting and transplant; patients’ consent in biomedical research; foundations and implications in applications of the principle of “non-availability of the human body”; medically assisted procreation, predictive medicine, extensive use of embryonic testing that leads to the destruction of embryos and of pre-natal testing. The method. The Group adopted five benchmarks. Namely, to build on sound legal foundations: in the Church the encyclicals ”Evangelium vitae”, ”Donum vitae” ”Dignitas personae”; at civil level art. 16 of the Civil Code which guarantees the primacy of the person; at European level the “Oviedo Convention” (1997) and its protocols. These, continued Cardinal Ricard, must be followed by “the positive reception of scientific research and advances that will enable true progress”; “not separating the scientific debate” from a true “ethical reflection”; “distinguishing between the great fundamental principles” and “more subjective rights”; “taking the human principles publicly acknowledged in contemporary society as the point of departure”. From this work emerged also the publication of the book entitled “Bioethics: proposals for dialogue”; the DVD “Discussing life. Bioethics referred to the Gospel”, and specific blogs (bioethique.catholique.fr) on the Internet CEF portal (eglise.catholique.fr), with reference material and reflections (notes) from experts. “28 notes, 330 comments, over 592 841 pages were visited”, made known Cardinal Ricard. On June 9, 11 and 16 the Steering Committee organized three public forums in Marseilles, Rennes and Strasbourg. A national conference in Paris concluded the General Assembly on June 23. The final report was given to the Head of the State to be forwarded to the Parliament.The upcoming parliamentary debate. During this period the Parliament conducted numerous hearings to which the Church was frequently asked to participate. The parliament has now received the Report of the General Assembly together with three other reports of the National Agency of biomedicine, the OPECST (Parliamentary office for the assessment of scientific and technical options), and the State Council. “All this constitutes the foundation on of the parliamentary debate in 2010”. CEF Permanent Council tasked Msgr. d’Ornellas “with ensuring continuity. We are presently re-examining the final report of the General Assembly, that could soon lead to a second book”, His Eminence added. The blog is expected to resume after the summer break. “Indeed, if the stage of the General Assembly went generally well, the upcoming parliamentary debate can still reserve many surprises for which we should remain vigilant”, the CCEE President concluded.