A French flag flies over the National Assembly in Paris, France, 18 April 2025; Credit: Reuters/Abdul Saboor/File Photo

PARIS (Reuters) - On Tuesday 27 May 2025, French lower house lawmakers approved a bill to legalise assisted dying, paving the way for France to become the latest European nation to allow terminally ill people to end their lives.

The final passage of the bill remains some way off, with the text now heading to the Senate. However, the legislation is expected to pass, with polls showing more than 90% of French people in favour of laws that give people with terminal diseases or interminable suffering the right to die.

French President Emmanuel Macron called the vote in the National Assembly "an important step".

The bill, which was approved in parliament by 305 votes to 199, provides the right to assisted dying to any French person over the age of eighteen suffering from a serious or incurable condition that is life-threatening, advanced or terminal.

The person, who must freely make their decision, must also have constant physical or psychological suffering that cannot be alleviated. Lawmakers stipulated that psychological suffering alone would not be enough to end one's life.

The patient can administer the lethal dose themselves or by an accredited medical professional if they are physically unable. Healthcare workers who object to doing so are free to opt out. Anyone found to have obstructed someone's right to die can face a two-year prison sentence and a €30,000 fine.

Laws to enable assisted dying are gathering steam across Europe. In November 2024, British lawmakers voted in favour of allowing assisted dying, paving the way for the UK to follow countries such as Australia, Canada and some US states in what would be the biggest social reform in a generation.

In March 2025, the Isle of Man, a self-governing British Crown Dependency off northwest England, approved an assisted dying bill, potentially making the island the first place in the British Isles where terminally ill people could end their lives.

"France is one of the last countries in Western Europe to legislate on this issue," leftist lawmaker Olivier Falorni told Reuters. "We are in a global process [...] France is behind, and I hope we will do it with our own model."