France's lower house of parliament is expected to pass a law legalizing assisted dying, in a vote that would conclude years of debate over how the country handles the end of life.
The National Assembly is due to hold a final vote on Wednesday, as France 24 reported, having already backed the bill in earlier readings. The Senate, France's upper house, had rejected the measure, but the government used a procedure allowing the Assembly to have the final say.
What the law would allow
Under the legislation, assisted dying would be limited to adults suffering from an incurable condition who are able to make a "free and informed" decision and who are in physical pain that is either unbearable or cannot be relieved by treatment. A doctor would confirm that a patient meets the criteria, with a panel reviewing whether the legal conditions are satisfied.
In most cases patients would administer the lethal substance themselves, though healthcare workers could help those physically unable to do so, a provision that distinguishes the French approach from some other countries.
A long and divisive road
The bill has been years in the making, and its author described its passage as the culmination of a long struggle. President Emmanuel Macron has backed the change. Even if the Assembly approves it, the law would not take effect immediately: the prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, is expected to ask the Constitutional Council to review it, a process that can take up to a month.
The debate has divided France. Supporters frame the law as a matter of dignity and personal choice for the terminally ill facing unbearable suffering. Opponents, including some doctors, religious groups and disability-rights campaigners, warn that it could place subtle pressure on vulnerable people, the sick, the elderly and the disabled, and argue that the priority should be better palliative care. Some conservative and far-right politicians have called the text dangerous and open to abuse, and protests have been planned near the Assembly.
Joining a small group
If the law is adopted, France would become one of a relatively small number of countries, alongside the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and Canada, to permit some form of assisted dying, each with its own conditions and safeguards. For France, a country with a strong tradition of secular republican debate and a powerful Catholic heritage, the shift marks a significant social change, and one whose final shape may still be adjusted by the constitutional review to come.
