Overview
- The National Assembly voted 291–241 on Wednesday, July 15, 2026 to pass a law that authorizes assisted suicide for some adults with severe, incurable illnesses.
- The law frames care as 'help to die' and requires clear, repeated requests, assessed by multiple doctors and a short sequence of waiting and review steps that together amount to about two weeks.
- Eligibility is tightly limited to adults who are French or long-term residents, who are judged competent, and who face an advanced or terminal illness with unbearable suffering; dementia and purely psychiatric conditions are excluded.
- Medical staff have an individual conscience clause and must refer patients if they refuse to take part, and the text creates new criminal penalties for obstructing or intimidating the process of up to two years in prison and fines up to €30,000.
- Implementation is paused because Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has asked the Constitutional Council to review the law, while religious groups, disability advocates and some medical bodies continue public protests and parliament has separately approved a palliative-care expansion.