France’s National Assembly passed a bill on Wednesday granting terminally ill adults the right to end their lives with medical assistance.
The bill has revealed the deep ideological fracture in France between progressives such as Macron and traditionalists
The assisted dying bill (droit à l’aide à mourir)was backed by 291 MPs with 241 against. It is the fourth time the text has been approved by the lower house, but in the past the upper house (the Senate) has rejected the bill.
The impasse prompted the government to activate a mechanism in the constitution that allows the Assembly to have the final say without the consent of the Senate.
In a lengthy post on X on Wednesday evening Macron welcomed the adoption of the bill, a process he dated back to 2022 when he ‘made the commitment to open this path with the French people.’ The president expressed his gratitude to ‘all the parliamentarians who enabled a constructive and respectful debate.’
