The philosopher believes that the words of her late husband are “instrumentalized” by opponents of the project. She sent a letter to MP Olivier Falorni, general rapporteur of the text.
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Elisabeth Badinter assures, Sunday April 21, that the former Minister of Justice Robert Badinter, who died in early February, “would have supported” the bill relating to support for the sick and those at the end of life. “To pretend otherwise would be a betrayal of one’s thoughts and memory.”adds the philosopher in the letter, reproduced in La Tribune Sundayaddressed to the deputy Olivier Falorni (MoDem and Independents), general rapporteur of the text.
Elisabeth Badinter thus responds to the opponents of the text who invoke a sentence pronounced in 2008 by her late husband: “No one can take life away from others in a democracy.” “For many months and even more recently, I have noticed that my husband’s words were used, not to say exploited, by opponents of any legislative development on this subject”she writes.
“My husband has never equated assisted dying with the death penalty”
The essayist notably mentions comments from the president of the conference of bishops of France, Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, who had already declared in La Tribune Sundaythat “Robert Badinter had always expressed his opposition to any idea of active assistance in dying”. She also mentions statements by the psychologist Marie de Hennezel, who affirmed that the refusal to legalize euthanasia had been the “last Stand” of the former Minister of Justice.
“My husband has never equated assisted dying with the death penalty”replies Elisabeth Badinter, qualifying these recent remarks – and “so many others” – of “peremptory”. The former Minister of Justice was “of those men who refused to lock themselves into certainties, especially on an issue as complex and sensitive as the end of life”.
She then addresses the rapporteur Olivier Falorni more directly: “He also told you personally when he received you, on November 10, 2021 (…). He affirmed his support for your text which established a right to active assistance in dying.” The former minister, according to her, had again expressed this position in front of a witness, in September 2023.
The bill “relating to the support of the sick and those at the end of life” was presented on April 10 to the Council of Ministers and will be examined by a special committee in the National Assembly, starting this week. It contains two components: one plans to develop palliative care, the other provides a framework to enable a patient to be supported towards death.