France’s National Assembly has taken a big step toward legalising assisted dying, passing a bill on its first reading that would allow patients to seek medical help to end their lives under strict conditions.
While the initial ballot on May 27 marked a shift in end-of-life rights in France, it also firmly closed the door on what critics have referred to as “suicide tourism”.
One of the law’s core safeguards was a residency requirement: Only French citizens or foreign nationals who are “legal and stable” residents in France would be eligible.
This condition was designed to ensure that France did not become a destination for those seeking assisted death from abroad, a concern that has shaped public debate in neighbouring countries with similar laws.
In 2023, an increasing number of foreigners requested euthanasia in Belgium.
That country ratified its euthanasia legislation in 2002, becoming the second in the world to legalise the practice under certain conditions after the Netherlands.
In 2023, data showed that since the law’s introduction, Belgium had recorded around 2,500 cases of euthanasia every year. French residents seeking euthanasia have come to Belgium.
Under the French draft legislation, patients would have to self-administer the life-ending medication. In exceptional cases where the person concerned was physically unable to do so, a healthcare professional could assist.
The default, though, remained self-administration, reinforcing the principle of “personal agency” in the action.
Eligibility for assisted dying was also tightly defined. Patients must be suffering from a serious, incurable illness that was life-threatening and at an advanced or terminal phase.
They must also be experiencing constant physical or psychological suffering that was resistant to treatment, or which they personally deemed unbearable, especially if they had declined further medical intervention.
The bill also made it clear that psychological suffering alone was not enough to qualify for assistance in dying.
President Emmanuel Macron welcomed the vote, calling it “an important step” on X on May 27, after 305 deputies supported the bill and 199 opposed it.
The vote revealed political fault lines: Leftist and centrist parties largely backed the planned legislation, while Conservative and right-wing lawmakers voiced strong reservations.
“This is an extremely important law,” said Green MP Sandrine Rousseau following the ballot.
“It’s a law of freedom at the end of life, one that resonates deeply with personal experiences, mine being a very painful one. It will give people a solution, and also reassure those who choose not to use it, simply by knowing the option exists.
“I want everyone at the end of life in France to be able to plan their final days,” she added.
On May 10, France’s interior minister Bruno Retailleau opposed the bill and warned: “If it were passed as it stands, it would be easier to ask for death than to be cared for.”
While the bill’s future remained uncertain, full passage may not occur before the end of Macron’s term. The President has not ruled out putting the issue to a public referendum.
If enacted, France would join a growing group of European countries that allowed some form of assisted dying, including Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, Austria and Germany.
In Belgium, euthanasia can be carried out by doctors, typically through intravenous administration, and requires applicants to be legal residents. The Belgian law also permitted the same for minors under strict conditions.
Recent political debates there have explored whether the law should be extended to patients with dementia.
Clear distinctions have often been drawn between different end-of-life practices: Assisted dying typically involved terminally ill patients receiving life-ending medication, sometimes administered by a healthcare provider.
Assisted suicide referred to cases where individuals, not necessarily terminally ill, were helped to end their lives, often through access to lethal substances they administered themselves.
Euthanasia involves a physician actively ending a person’s life to alleviate suffering, with or without the person being terminally ill. It can be voluntary or involuntary without consent, as in coma cases.
