French Parliament adopts euthanasia law despite resistance from many deputies

The French National Assembly, after years of debate, has approved a law on assistance in voluntarily ending one's life. The procedure for obtaining such assistance is subject to very strict conditions, writes the BBC.

291 deputies of the lower house of the French parliament voted for the new law, while 241 voted against it. Previously, the law was rejected three times by the Senate – the upper house of parliament.

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu will refer specific articles of the law to the Constitutional Council of France for review, and only after its approval will the law come into force.

The law will grant adult French citizens suffering from severe and incurable diseases in their final stages, where these diseases cause constant and unbearable physical or psychological suffering, the right to request euthanasia. Such a patient will be able to voluntarily express their wish to end their life by informing doctors.

After the necessary consultations, doctors will have 15 days to make a decision.

After this, the patient will be given another two days to reflect.

Then they will have to administer the lethal injection themselves. If their physical condition does not allow this, the injection will be given by a doctor or nurse.

The patient's final decision on the day of the procedure must be certified by their doctor.

In several European countries, including Spain, the Netherlands, and Belgium, euthanasia for the terminally ill is already legalized.

In Germany and Italy, medical assistance in voluntarily ending one's life is decriminalized but not yet legalized.

In the UK, as in France, discussions about voluntary ending of life have been ongoing for many years. It is expected that parliament will reconsider the relevant bill this autumn.

In France, the law is opposed, in particular, by the Catholic Church and parts of the medical community. The National Assembly has now voted for it for the fourth time, while the Senate, where right-wing parties hold the majority, has rejected the document three times.

At the same time, poll results show that a solid majority of French people support giving the terminally ill the right to choose between palliative care and voluntarily ending their lives.

On the eve of the parliamentary vote, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced that he would refer specific articles of the law to the Constitutional Council – a body that monitors the compliance of laws with the Constitution of the French Republic.

French President Emmanuel Macron supports this law, but the Prime Minister is more cautious about such an initiative. Lecornu intends to ask the Constitutional Council to assess primarily three aspects of the law:

• the sufficiency of the two-day period allotted for the patient to reflect and finally confirm their wish to end their life. Critics of the law believe that two days are insufficient;
• to what extent patients with impaired reasoning ability can give conscious and deliberate consent to voluntarily end their lives;
• whether it will be lawful for medical and other institutions, whose primary goal is to provide palliative care to the terminally ill, to also assist them in voluntarily ending their lives.

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