As France holds day of prayer for people at the end of life, world’s euthanasia numbers soar

As Catholics in France prepare for a nationwide prayer and fasting initiative Feb. 20 in anticipation of the final vote on a bill that “leads our country down the path of euthanasia and assisted suicide” and to “ask the Lord to enlighten consciences on the gravity of the challenges posed by this proposed law” — numbers of euthanasia procedures spike around the world.

The prayer and fasting initiative is organized by the French bishops’ conference while lawmakers prepare for a final vote on assisted dying legislation Feb. 24. French prelates fear that once the bill is approved — euthanasia could become increasingly normalized — as is the case across the world.

In Spain, according to newly released official statistics, 426 people died through state-approved assisted suicide or euthanasia in 2021. This represents a 27.54 percent increase over the 334 deaths recorded in 2023, and nearly a 48 percent rise compared with 2022, the first complete year after legalization.

Benigno Blanco, president of the Spanish Forum on the Family, said societal attitudes are gradually shifting as euthanasia becomes routine in public health reporting.

“Social normalization of euthanasia has begun,” Blanco told OSV News. “The numbers of euthanasia cases are now published periodically as just another statistic that no longer provokes a strong reaction. We are getting used to euthanasia as another social phenomenon, and that is always how the banalization of what is legalized begins. After that banalization in collective consciousness, the number of practices gradually increases.”

The United Kingdom also stands on the threshold of legalizing assisted suicide, with debates in the parliament ongoing and Catholic lawmakers fighting to stop an “outrageous” bill on assisted suicide.

Australia, meanwhile, offers one of the clearest case studies of how assisted dying laws evolve once introduced. Since legalization began in the state of Victoria — where the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act was passed in 2017 and took effect in 2019 — and has since spread nationwide, the number of assisted dying cases has steadily increased, raising questions about how such laws reshape cultural expectations and the moral identity of medicine. In New South Wales, the Voluntary Assisted Dying Board’s second annual report shows 2,295 people made a first request to access VAD, while 1,028 people died using a VAD substance.

Prominent Australian bioethicist and author Xavier Symons said the trend reflects a deeper social transformation.

“I think the increasing number of VAD cases in Australia reflects both growing public awareness of euthanasia as an option for the dying and the normalization of choosing that option,” Symons, a professor who heads the Plunkett Centre for Ethics at Australian Catholic University and St. Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney, told OSV News.

“Undoubtedly, other factors have influenced the increased VAD rates across the states, such as the availability of more practitioners to provide VAD and a push by pro-euthanasia lobby groups to make euthanasia accessible in regional and remote areas. But social attitudes have probably also shifted somewhat in the last few years.”

Symons said the impact extends beyond individual patient choices and is reshaping how society views medicine itself.

“My concern is that VAD erodes a sense that healing is core to medicine,” he said. “We are seeing a replacement of a Hippocratic view of medicine — which includes the idea that the physician is duty-bound to pursue the patient’s good — with the idea that a doctor is a provider of services and ought to assist patients who want to end their lives. Not all doctors provide euthanasia; many are conscientious objectors. But the fact that medicine now provides euthanasia affects how society sees the medical profession.”

Symons warned lawmakers in other countries debating euthanasia may underestimate how eligibility criteria can expand over time.

“The biggest risk is establishing a ‘right to die’ that could expand well beyond terminal illness, essentially allowing access to euthanasia for every group that desires it,” he said. “This includes people with mental illness, people with chronic illness, and even people who are tired of life. If you say that some people have a right to euthanasia, it is difficult to block the conclusion that all people have a right to euthanasia.”

Across the world, assisted dying laws have expanded steadily over the past decade.

Euthanasia — in which a physician directly administers life-ending medication — is now legal under defined criteria in multiple countries around the world, including the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain, Canada, Colombia, New Zealand and Australia, among others.

Catholic health providers in Australia say they are navigating a complex new reality, seeking to maintain long-standing commitments to palliative care while operating within systems where assisted dying is legal.

Adrian Kerr, speaking for Catholic Health Australia, emphasized the historical roots of Catholic end-of-life care in the country.

“It was a Catholic religious order — the Sisters of Charity — who founded Australia’s first ever dedicated end-of-life care service in Sydney in 1890,” he told OSV News. “That service was established to provide care to anyone who needed it. It is part of a long legacy of care involving Catholic Health Australia members, of which we are immensely proud of — a reflection of the commitment of the Good Samaritan, responding to need, no matter whose it is.”

Kerr said Catholic facilities continue to reject participation in voluntary assisted dying while remaining committed to caring for all patients.

Echoing a massive campaign from French bishops, urging to focus public efforts on palliative care instead of assisted dying, Kerr said experience shows that access to quality palliative care can significantly influence patient decisions.

“We have found it is very rare that a person has made a ‘once-and-for-all’ decision about VAD,” he said. “Some pursue it because their pain and symptoms are poorly managed, or because they are experiencing some form of distress. We can — and do — help with those things with holistic end-of-life care. Many patients find that this meets their needs and choose to die naturally.”

For Blanco, the Spanish Catholic advocate for end of life dignity, it’s the legalization of euthanasia that reshapes culture even without strong initial public demand.

“When the law decriminalizing euthanasia was approved and regulated as another health service, there was no significant social demand for it, and even today, there still is not,” he said of Spain.

“But social normalization has already begun, and that is how the slippery slope starts, which over time always leads to progressive banalization of what is decriminalized.”

He also pointed to demographic pressures such as smaller families, urbanization and increasing isolation among older adults.

“In this cultural and social context, it is foreseeable that euthanasia will increasingly be promoted as a reasonable solution for everyone,” Blanco said. “These are slow processes, but they are underway.”

Church leaders say the pastoral consequences of assisted dying are also becoming more visible, especially among families left behind after a loved one chooses euthanasia.

Monica Doumit, chancellor of the Archdiocese of Sydney, said legalization has introduced new challenges for pastoral care.

“One of the unexpected challenges that has come apparent is not the pastoral care of a person who is seeking euthanasia or assisted suicide, but the care of families left behind,” she told OSV News.

“Some of these family members, particularly if they are people of faith, did not agree with the decision of their loved one to die in this way and their death brings about not only grief, but regret that more could not be done and even anger.”

Doumit said families sometimes learn about assisted dying decisions only after the process has begun or ended, deepening trauma. “This can be very distressing and is one of the pastoral challenges presented by this terrible legislative regime,” she said.

Doumit said the Church sees its role as both moral witness and provider of compassionate care. “In every age and with every challenge, the Church is called to uphold the dignity of the human person and to speak up for the most vulnerable,” she said.

“In the case of euthanasia, those who propose ending people’s lives call it ‘dying with dignity.’ In the face of this, the Church must always declare that no illness or disability can ever take away a person’s dignity, and no matter how much care they need, they are still a valued member of our community.”

She added that Catholic institutions can offer a different witness through accompaniment. “We may not be able to change the law at this stage, but we can care for people in a way that they will never seek this option,” she said

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