France's National Assembly voted 291-241 Wednesday to allow adults with incurable illnesses to receive lethal medication to end their own lives—the latest sign that Western nations are abandoning the Christian moral framework that once made life sacred, and a preview of the fight coming to America.
The bill doesn't become law immediately. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, who has his own reservations about the legislation, will refer parts of it to France's Constitutional Council for review. The Senate, dominated by right-wing parties, rejected the bill three times. The lower house pushed it through anyway, approving it in four separate readings.
President Emmanuel Macron, who announced the legislation more than three years ago, celebrated on X: "In 2022, I committed to opening this path with the French people. With seriousness, with humility, and with full respect for our democracy, that commitment has been fulfilled."
On paper, the bill sets strict conditions. Patients must be at least 18, French citizens or legal residents, and suffering from a "serious and incurable" life-threatening illness in an "advanced or terminal stage." They must experience unbearable suffering that can't be relieved. They initiate the request, a healthcare team reviews it within 15 days, and the patient confirms after at least two days of reflection. The patient self-administers the lethal substance; only those physically unable to do so can receive help from a doctor or nurse.
But opponents see cracks. The BBC reported concerns that the two-day reflection period is too short, and that patients under legal protection for impaired judgment could still be deemed to exercise "free and informed consent." AP reported that people with severe psychiatric disorders or neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's are excluded, and that psychological suffering alone wouldn't qualify—but the language of the bill references both "physical or psychological suffering," leaving the door cracked for future expansion.
France, a traditionally Catholic nation, has wrestled with these questions for years. The Catholic Church and parts of the medical profession opposed the bill. National Assembly President Yael Braun-Pivet called it "the longest debate since the 1980s." Opinion polls show a large majority of French people support the change—public sentiment shifting as the population ages and chronic illness grows.
The same machine is running in the United Kingdom. A bill to legalize assisted dying in England and Wales stalled earlier this year and returns to Parliament in September. The Netherlands and Belgium legalized assisted dying in 2002. Several other European countries followed. Switzerland has long allowed assisted suicide.
Around 300 million people worldwide now have access to some form of assisted dying, according to various estimates cited by AP. The question for Americans isn't whether this arrives here—it's whether anyone will draw the line before the definition of who qualifies keeps expanding.
