Overview
- On Tuesday June 30 the National Assembly approved the proposal creating a statutory right to aide à mourir by 295 votes to 232 in a third reading of the text.
- Deputies examined about 1,800 amendments but adopted only around twenty, leaving the bill largely unchanged and confirming auto‑administration as the default method for assisted dying.
- Key legal details in the text require applicants to be 18 or older, French nationals or stable residents, suffer from a grave incurable illness in an advanced or terminal phase, experience refractory physical or psychological suffering, and be able to express a free and informed will.
- The Senate will examine the bill starting July 7 and is widely expected to reject it again, after which the government has arranged a decisive Assembly vote on July 15 that would use the Constitution’s mechanism to give deputies the last word.
- The vote exposed deep political and social divides, with only the UDR group voting unanimously against and health and palliative‑care bodies warning of ethical and practical risks while advocacy groups call the measure a long‑overdue safeguard for patient autonomy.