End of life: the creation of a "right to assisted dying" divides the government and parliamentary groups

"The trembling hand," many say they will have it when the time comes to vote. MPs are called upon to legislate on assisted dying (euthanasia or assisted suicide) starting Monday, May 12. Whether for or against, many have not yet resolved all their dilemmas on a subject that also creates gaping flaws within the executive.

The possibility for a doctor to authorize an act that shortens the life of an incurably ill person, at their request, was included in the bill on support for the sick and the end of life unveiled by Emmanuel Macron in March 2024. Interrupted by the dissolution of the National Assembly in June, the examination of the text resumes in the Chamber through the discussion of two bills. The first concerns palliative care, the second opens a "right to assisted dying." Subject to a joint general discussion, they will be submitted to separate votes on May 27.

On the eve of the debate in session, the Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, once again protested against "a text of anthropological rupture" and "deeply unbalanced" in Le Journal du dimanche of May 11. In Le Parisien , the Minister of Labor, Health and Solidarity, Catherine Vautrin, on the contrary defended the text which, she said, creates "an alternative to intolerable suffering for which there is no answer" . She announced that she will bring forward amendments "so that access to assisted dying is very regulated".

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