French MPs have voted in favour of a new bill that will legalise assisted suicide, with 305 votes for and 199 against. You can check how your MP voted online.
The bill contained two parts, with the first focusing on the extension of palliative care. This was adopted unanimously (560 for, 0 against, 3 abstentions).
The second part focused on assisted dying, with debates on the subject starting on May 12 and ending on May 24, and the vote taking place on May 27. There were 305 for, 199 against, and 57 abstentions.
Health Minister Catherine Vautrin said that there was still “a long way to go” when it comes to assisted dying laws in France, while President Emmanuel Macron described the vote as “an important stage” in the debate.
The bills will now be passed to the Senate for further examination.
FranceInfo states that “the vast majority of the 305 votes in favour of the bill came from the left and centre, while the right and far right were over-represented among the 199 votes against the text”.
The tool shows the MP’s constituency and party, and how they voted. The colour legend is:
Orange/red: Against
Blue: Abstained
Green: For
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You can search the tool by typing in an MP’s name or party, or by entering your address, postal code or department.
For example, typing in “Haute-Garonne” enables you to select “Haute-Garonne (31)”, and the table shows 10 MPs from the different wards in the department, their names, parties, photo, and how they voted (see screenshot below).
A screenshot of the MP votes in Haute-Garonne (example)FranceInfo / Source : Assemblée nationale - 17e législature, scrutin n°2107
Disagreement and debate
As the voting record shows, many MPs have very differing views on the assisted suicide law, including within their own parties.
Charles Rodwell went against the majority of his Macronist party to vote against, while Romain Daubié from MoDem (centre-right) also voted against. He said: “One of the duties of society is to protect the weakest and the ill. This bill opens the door to who knows what on the other side.”
La France Insoumise (left) MP, Sophia Chikirou, said she would have preferred to abstain from the vote, rather than voting against (as she did).
She told Le Figaro: "I have moral doubts about the anthropological effects of such a law and its harmful effects in a society organised by predatory capitalism. I also doubt the need to legislate beyond the current law, which already covers the vast majority of situations.”
Renaissance MP Sylvain Maillard, from Paris, said that he had changed his mind during the debate stage, and that his constituents had also influenced his vote in favour. “Initially, I was rather against it, but I was persuaded by the residents of my constituency,” he said.
Wider reception
The law has been largely welcomed by pro-right-to-die group l’Association pour le droit de mourir dans la dignité (the Association for the right to die with dignity).
Its president, Jonathan Denis, said he was pleased that it “takes into account both assisted dying and palliative care”.
However, he said it was still “one of the most restrictive texts in the world” due to its requirement of the patient to be in “advanced or terminal stage” of the illness, and to have a “life-threatening prognosis”. Similarly, he said that the bill - because it requires self-administration of the final lethal dose - “fails to take into account advance directives”.
In contrast, a group opposed to the text - including around 20 professional associations and societies - has formed a new association called Soins de vie (Life Care), which has condemned the law as “one of the most permissive” laws in the world on end-of-life care.
“More than a response to a few situations of suffering, this bill establishes a new right that goes beyond end-of-life situations,” the group has warned.
Lawyer Laurent Frémont, co-founder of another group, le Collectif Démocratie, éthique et solidarités (CDES), said that the new law amounts to France “reneging on its promise not to abandon its citizens and is joining the few countries that have broken the taboo of killing”.
He said that the text was “extremist” and based on “broad and vague criteria”, with “very strong coercion against caregivers”.
What does the new law state?
The law requires patients to match five criteria before they can go ahead with assisted suicide or self-administration of life-ending drugs. These are:
Must be of legal age
Must have French nationality
Must be suffering from “a serious and incurable condition” that is “life-threatening, in an advanced or terminal stage”
Must be experiencing “physical or psychological suffering related to this condition”
Must be capable “of expressing (their) wishes freely and in an informed manner”
The bill does not use the terms “euthanasia” or “assisted suicide”. Rather, it uses the phrases “help to die” and “self-administration”.
One of the most controversial parts of the bill is that it makes it a crime to “obstruct assisted dying”. This would make it criminal offence to “prevent or attempt to prevent” euthanasia or assisted suicide where it otherwise complies with the law, punishable by two years in prison and a fine of €30,000.
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau was particularly against this part of the law.
Writing on X (Twitter), he said: "Reaching out to those who are suffering is the essence of humanity. Do we really want a society that condemns those who try to [help] people who [feel] they no longer have a reason to live? This is going too far. We cannot be found guilty of compassion."
