French lawmakers are preparing for a momentous vote on legislation to legalize assisted dying (encompassing both euthanasia and assisted suicide), beginning Monday, May 12. The bill has created deep divisions, even within the government, with many MPs reportedly “trembling” at the prospect of casting their vote.
The possibility of a doctor authorizing an act to shorten the life of a terminally ill patient, at the patient’s request, was initially part of a broader bill on patient support and end-of-life care presented by President Emmanuel Macron in March 2024. That bill was interrupted by the dissolution of the Assemblée Nationale in June. The issue has now resurfaced through discussions on two separate bills: one focusing on palliative care, and the other creating a “right to aid in dying.” These will be subject to a joint general discussion but voted on separately on May 27.
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Ahead of the debate, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, in an interview with Le Journal du Dimanche on May 11, strongly criticized the bill, calling it “a text of anthropological break” and “profoundly unbalanced.” Conversely, Labor, Health and Solidarity Minister Catherine Vautrin defended the bill in Le Parisien on Monday, arguing that it creates “an alternative to intolerable suffering that finds no answer.” Vautrin announced that she would propose amendments to ensure “that access to aid in dying is very regulated.”
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