The French National Assembly, the lower chamber of the country’s parliament, gave final approval on July 15 to a bill legalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide.
The 291-241 vote ended a parliamentary stalemate between the National Assembly and the Senate, with the lower chamber having passed the bill three times over the past year and a half and the Senate rejecting it each time. The vote comes three years after President Emmanuel Macron first opened the issue to national debate.
The new law comprises both euthanasia, administered by a health professional, and assisted suicide, in which the patient self-administers a lethal substance. To qualify under this measure, a person must be an adult, a stable resident of France, have a severe and incurable condition in an advanced or terminal phase, be suffering in a way that current treatment cannot relieve, and be able to express consent.
France now joins Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Spain as one of the few European countries to legalize euthanasia.
More information can be found on EWTN News here. Read more about euthanasia and assisted suicide in the February 2026 MCC Messenger.