There is reason to rejoice in France as a second assisted suicide effort has suffered another major defeat after the French Senate rejected the proposed legislation, owing to mounting concerns about the impact legalisation of such a practice could have on vulnerable patients and wider society.
On Tuesday, senators voted against a key provision of the bill by 151 votes to 118. Article 2, which outlined the proposed “right” to assisted suicide and the conditions under which it could be accessed, was widely regarded as the central pillar of the legislation.
The Senate did, however, overwhelmingly approve a separate measure aimed at improving access to palliative care, backing it by 325 votes to 18.
The assisted suicide bill has now passed twice in the National Assembly, France’s lower house, but has been rejected twice by the more conservative Senate. The French government still hopes to force the legislation through before Parliament rises for the summer, potentially allowing the National Assembly to override the Senate’s opposition.
That prospect has alarmed critics, including Bruno Retailleau, leader of the conservative Republicans party, who called for a national referendum instead.
He argued that assisted suicide represented a “serious anthropological question” that should be decided directly by the French people, rather than pushed through Parliament despite deep national divisions.
Retailleau also warned that legalising assisted suicide risks creating pressure on elderly, disabled, and seriously ill people who may begin to see themselves as a burden.
“If tomorrow the text were voted on… everyone will have to ask themselves if they are not a dead weight, if they are not a burden for society or for their loved ones,” he said.
Under the proposed legislation, adults with terminal or incurable illnesses could request lethal medication to end their lives, either self-administered or, in some cases, administered by a healthcare professional.
Although the bill includes conditions such as requiring “free and informed consent”, opponents fear France could follow the path of countries such as Canada and Belgium, where assisted suicide and euthanasia laws have steadily expanded beyond the terminally ill.
Catholic leaders have been among the strongest critics of the proposal. Ahead of the debate, Bishop Marc Aillet warned that the legislation would mark an “anthropological rupture” by undermining the long-standing prohibition against intentionally killing.
He also stressed that many patients who initially request assisted suicide change their minds once they receive proper palliative care and emotional support.
“Almost all patients tempted to request assisted suicide or euthanasia abandon the idea once they are cared for in a palliative care unit,” he said.
France’s bishops have repeatedly argued that the answer to suffering is not to end life, but to improve care for those approaching death.
“We do not care for life by giving death,” they said earlier this year.
SPUC CEO John Deighan said, “We agree entirely with the comments by the French Bishops. Life is precious and to be cared for, not to be ended. It seems that there is an onslaught of death policies across Europe, and whether it be France, Westminster, or Scotland, parliaments are starting to realise the danger that such changes can wreak on society. As in the United Kingdom, it seems those rich groups proposing assisted suicide are willing to overturn any procedure to have their way. On either side of the channel pro-life groups and the Church will continue working to ensure that never happens.”
