Overview
- The chamber begins a weeklong examination on January 20 of paired proposals on palliative care and aid to die, with a solemn vote scheduled for January 28.
- On January 7 the social affairs committee replaced a proposed “right to aid in dying” with “medical assistance to die,” narrowed eligibility to roughly fifteen days’ prognosis, extended conscience clauses to pharmacists, and deleted the offence of obstructing access.
- Right‑ and center‑leaning senators push for tighter safeguards, while the left plans to seek restoration of the National Assembly’s broader version.
- Healthcare professionals remain divided, with many geriatricians and palliative care specialists warning of a “banalization” of lethal acts.
- Public mobilization has intensified, including a bishops’ tribune opposing the reform and Sunday’s Paris march by several thousand opponents.