French Lawmakers Back Assisted Suicide Law

The bill, which sparked debate in France, will allow adults with an incurable illness to take lethal medication.

Deputies applaud the adoption of the bill on the right to assistance in dying following the vote at The National Assembly, France's lower house parliament, in Paris on May 27, 2025. Stephane de Sakutin/AFP via Getty Images

France’s lower house of parliament approved a bill on Tuesday to legalize assisted suicide, paving the way for medical professionals to help adults with incurable illnesses end their lives by taking a lethal substance.

The bill, passed on May 27 by a vote of 305–199, would legalize assisted suicide for any French citizen over 18 suffering from a serious or incurable condition that is life-threatening, advanced, or terminal.

According to the legislation, a team of medical professionals must confirm that the patient has a grave and incurable illness “at an advanced or terminal stage” and is suffering. Anyone found to have obstructed someone’s choice of assisted suicide could face a two-year prison sentence and a 30,000 euro ($32,500) fine.

The final passage of the long-debated bill is now heading to the Senate.

Socialist Party lawmaker Olivier Falorni said in a May 27 post on social media platform X that it was a “historic moment” as it “carries at its heart liberty, equality, and fraternity. There are days one knows will never be forgotten.”

The Association for the Right to Die With Dignity (ADMD) also celebrated the move.

“This is a time of joy for those of us who see hope in a dignified end of life, spared from unbearable suffering and needless agony,” ADMD said in a statement.

The official French government website Vie-Publique said that under the law, patients could choose the date of their death, be surrounded by loved ones, and opt for a location outside their home, although public places such as roads, parks, beaches, and forests would be prohibited.

After administering the lethal substance, the doctor or nurse does not need to remain at the bedside but must stay nearby and within sight to intervene if necessary, it states. The full cost of assisted dying will be covered by France’s national health insurance.

Health professionals can refuse to take part in assisted suicide under a “conscientious objection clause” but must refer the patient to another practitioner, it says.

Eddy Casterman, a lawmaker with the Identity-Liberties party, voted against the bill. He said it was “a dangerous slope.”

In a May 27 post on X, he said that the proposed law “provides no ethical guarantees, no possible recourse for families, and no real medical alternatives. On the contrary, it risks exposing the most vulnerable to silent pressure. ”

Speaking at the Grande Loge de France on May 5, a prominent French Freemasonry Masonic lodge founded in 1894, Macron referred to assisted suicide as a “lesser evil.”

He also thanked the Freemasons for working extensively on the “end-of-life debate.”

Catholic French bishops denounced his remarks.

“No, Mr. President, the choice to kill and to help kill is not the lesser evil,” Archbishop Moulins-Beaufort said in a statement posted to X on May 6.

“It is simply death. This must be said without lying and without hiding behind words. Killing cannot be the choice of brotherhood or dignity. It is the choice of abandonment and refusal to help until the end. This transgression will weigh heavily on the most vulnerable and lonely members of our society.”

Other religious leaders have voiced opposition to the legislation.

This month, the Conference of Religious Leaders in France, which represents the Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, and Buddhist communities, said in a joint statement that the proposed law “enshrines individual autonomy at the expense of family and social bonds.”

French patients seeking to end their lives have often traveled abroad, particularly to Belgium and the Netherlands, where euthanasia has been legal since 2002.

Spain authorized euthanasia in 2021, followed by Portugal in 2023.

In the UK, lawmakers are debating an assisted suicide bill after giving it initial approval in November.

Reuters contributed to this report.