Twist at the Palais Bourbon. The National Assembly finally approved, this Wednesday, February 14, the creation of a new offense of “provocation to abandonment of care”, in the bill to combat sectarian abuses, after a new deliberation requested by the Macronists in a stormy atmosphere.
The deputies adopted at first reading the entire text to combat sectarian abuses by 151 votes to 73.
Faced with “gurus 2.0” and their false promises of curing cancer with “mistletoe injections” or “lemon juice”, the executive is committed to this new offense which punishes “provocation by means of pressure or repeated maneuvers ” to the abandonment of care, exposing itself to “serious consequences” for health. But the presidential camp was defeated on Tuesday evening by a coalition of oppositions, rejecting this article by 116 votes to 108, as the Senate did at the end of 2023.
LFI, LR and RN MPs denounce a threat to “public freedoms” and to “whistleblowers” who criticize the pharmaceutical industry. Despite the protests in the hemicycle, Renaissance deputy Sacha Houlié requested a new deliberation on Wednesday, on behalf of the Law Committee of which he is president. The announcement of this second vote immediately provoked indignation among opponents of this article, with points of order and suspensions of the session. RN Thomas Ménage criticized the presidential camp for “disregarding the vote of popular representation”.
“Defend science”
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.
🔴🏛 Bill aimed at strengthening the fight against sectarian abuses: The amendment to reinstate article 4 is adopted by 182 votes ‘For’, 137 ‘Against’. #DirectAN pic.twitter.com/BVvhpsk1ew
— LCP (@LCP) 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. The electric atmosphere has revived the wounds of the heated debates on the health pass and vaccines against Covid, with several skirmishes with the far right. 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 epidemic.