After two years of fierce debate, the French National Assembly has officially passed a controversial bill legalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide.
After two years of debate, the bill creating “a right to assistance in dying” was adopted by a narrow majority in its final reading by the French National Assembly on Wednesday, July 15. Lawmakers passed the measure with 291 votes in favor, 241 against, and 29 abstentions.
This marks the fourth time deputies have approved the legislation. However, growing doubts seem to have shaken the once-solid certainties surrounding this major societal change. While the initial vote in the Assembly garnered a large majority, support has steadily dwindled with each subsequent reading: 305 to 199 in May 2025; 299 to 226 in February 2026; and 295 to 232 in June 2026.
“This July 15, 2026, marks a grave rupture in the history of our country. By choosing to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide, deputies have inscribed into French law the possibility of provoking death,” the French bishops’ conference reacted shortly after the vote.
“This choice breaks with the long tradition of care whose vocation is to relieve suffering and accompany each person to the natural end of their life.”
The bill ultimately succeeded despite facing numerous obstacles. Opponents included successive prime ministers and a Senate that systematically blocked the text. Voices of dissent also rose at each new reading from doctors, healthcare workers, civil society, and religious representatives.
Furthermore, the legislative process endured significant interruptions. These included two dissolutions of the National Assembly and the subsequent fall of Prime Minister François Bayrou’s government (2024-2025).
Pushing the bill through
Ultimately, these roadblocks were not enough. French President Emmanuel Macron fulfilled his promise to pass the legislation before the end of his second five-year term. “In 2022, I made the commitment to open this path with the French people. With gravity, with humility, and in full respect of our democracy, this commitment has been kept,” Macron said following the vote.
The passage of the bill leaves a bitter taste for its numerous opponents, who feel their warnings were dismissed out of hand.
“While there are so many mental health needs, so many deficiencies in our health system, so many delays to obtain a pain consultation, and so many of our fellow citizens suffering from loneliness, offering such an alternative could generate a false freedom,” argued Thibault Bazin, a lawmaker from the Meurthe-et-Moselle department.
Final institutional hurdles
Initially pitched as a “balanced text,” the final law has become one of the most permissive in the world on this issue. It goes beyond granting access to assisted suicide. In certain cases, it authorizes a doctor or nurse to administer a lethal substance, effectively legalizing euthanasia.
Safeguards announced at the start of the debates were progressively weakened. The law no longer requires a collegial medical opinion (a collective review by a panel of doctors or specialists). Also, a doctor’s refusal can be bypassed by referring the patient to a colleague.
While individual healthcare professionals can refuse to participate in the procedure, no collective conscience clause applies to healthcare facilities. This means private or faith-based institutions cannot opt out as a whole. Furthermore, regulatory oversight only occurs after the patient’s death, depriving any potential irregularities of an effective remedy.
Opponents warn that once the law establishes death as a medical response to suffering, today’s limits could easily be framed as arbitrary tomorrow, paving the way for further expansions.
Constitutional review
On Tuesday, July 14, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced his intention to refer the bill to the Constitutional Council following its final parliamentary approval. The council will have to rule on several articles that may conflict with the “principles of individual liberty and human dignity.”
Contentious points include the mere two-day reflection period granted to patients requesting assistance in dying and the situation of legally protected adults. The lack of a collective conscience clause for healthcare facilities is also under scrutiny. This omission particularly affects institutions like those run by the Little Sisters of the Poor, whose core mission excludes assisted death.
The Constitutional Council can validate the entire text, strike down specific provisions, or issue interpretive reservations that would impose a stricter reading of the law. If declared compliant, the law will be promulgated by the president. It will then enter into force once the necessary regulatory texts are published. This upcoming council review now stands as the ultimate institutional rampart against the reform.
