France’s end-of-life law under debate as conditions examined

The French Senate is debating a right-to-die bill that is expected to give doctors the authority to administer life-ending drugs – but the conditions of the bill are still highly contested.

The Assemblée Nationale voted the bill through on May 27, 2025 following ongoing campaigning by certain groups, with the bill adopted unanimously (560 for, 0 against, 3 abstentions). Yet, none of the eight parties represented in the Senate have yet come to an agreement on the details of the would-be law.

Senate president Gérard Larcher instructed the chamber to keep the debate “respectful and open”.

‘Medical assistance in dying’

The co-rapporteurs tasked with reporting on the bill, Christine Bonfanti-Dossat and Alain Milon, are opposed to “any form of induced death”, Ms Bonfanti-Dossat has said, and have introduced the text to the Senate from their Social Affairs Committee with significant changes from the version already agreed in the Assemblée.

As a result, the text produced by the committee that is being considered in the Senate renames the “right to assistance in dying” as “medical assistance in dying”. It also stipulates that this ‘assistance’ would only be accessible to patients who are at the very end of their lives.

This is in contrast to the Assemblée’s bill, which specified that patients must have “an advanced life-threatening condition”, but did not state any conditions for the patient's remaining life expectancy.

The conditions that allow “medical assistance in dying” are the same as those that already give such patients the right to deep and continuous sedation until death. These have been in place since 2016. They state that the patient must be suffering from a “serious and incurable condition” and have a “short-term life-threatening prognosis”.

Both Ms Bonfanti-Dossat and Mr Milon, who are from the Les Républicains party, say that a majority of their 130 members are expected to vote in favour of the bill. Yet, this is not a large enough group to ensure the text’s adoption.

Assemblée’s version

Many do not agree with the co-rapporteurs’ Social Affairs Committee version of the bill. 

For example, the Socialist party – along with many from the Green party and the Communists – are calling for the reinstatement of the version passed in the Assemblée.

Similarly, leader of the Macronist party, François Patriat, and Socialist party Senator Xavier Iacovelli have also said that they will vote “for a version that returns to the Assemblée’s text”, Le Monde reports. 

Other Senators likely to vote for this version include Brigitte Bourguignon (former Minister of Health) and Elisabeth Doineau, general rapporteur for the Social Affairs Committee.

The Social Affairs Committee’s version “renders assisted dying ineffective and inoperative”, said Olivier Falorni MP, general rapporteur for the bill in the Assemblée. He said that “the Assemblée's text was already a compromise…so seeking a compromise on a compromise becomes extremely difficult”.

‘Third way’?

Some Senators are calling for a “third way” rather than supporting the ‘Senate’ version or the ‘Assemblée’ version outright.

For example, Senator Olivier Henno, in agreement with Senator Bernard Jomier, has proposed amendments to the bill that would limit lethal products to people who have six months or less to live. Mr Falorni has called this position “constructive”.

Whatever the Senate eventually agrees, their version of the text will be sent back to the Assemblée for a second reading in mid-February.