French senator Christine Bonfanti-Dossat at the Sénat, in Paris on January 20, 2026. ALAIN JOCARD / AFP
The Sénat, the French Parliament's upper house, on Wednesday, January 28, rejected a government-backed draft law on assisted dying that had been billed as one of the country's most important societal changes in more than a decade.
The law easily passed the lower Assemblée Nationale last year but was so watered down by right-wing and centrist lawmakers, in often angry and chaotic debate in the upper chamber, that supporters of the initiative said it no longer made sense.
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Assisted dying could soon become legal in France. This MP was the driving force
