“I helped my mother to die”, the poignant story of ecologist Sandrine Rousseau at the National Assembly

“I helped my mother die.” Green MP Sandrine Rousseau delivered poignant testimony to the National Assembly on Wednesday April 24, explaining that she had witnessed the suicide of her mother, who was seriously ill and in “suffering”, respecting his choice to end his life. She spoke before the special commission responsible for examining the government’s bill on the end of life, which heard the leaders of the main religions.

“I helped my mother to die, she committed suicide and I was present. Who would I be to forbid her from doing this?”, asked the member for Paris. If she said “respect” the positions of representatives of the religion, some of whom expressed their “worry”Sandrine Rousseau called for consideration “suffering” people whose “death is very near”.

Sandrine Rousseau had already declared in 2013 that her mother, suffering from terminal cancer, had chosen to end her life by taking medication, at the age of 68. She explained that she had witnessed, helplessly, her mother’s slow agony which lasted nine hours in total. “Of course, it is about death, but what is absent from your words is the suffering of these people. As men of the Church, as men of faith, suffering has importance”she concluded.