PRESS RELEASE – 25th February 2026
End of life: Dangerous legislative pressure for the most vulnerable
The French MPs have just adopted the proposed bill on the so-called “assistance in dying” by assisted suicide and euthanasia and its debate in the Senate is scheduled for early April. Such precipitation is alarming, at a time when the health system is in crisis and the French public expect above all to have equal access to healthcare and palliative care in particular.
The unanimous adoption of the proposed bill on palliative care is in stark contrast with the division caused by the text legalising assisted suicide and euthanasia, adopted by 299 votes for and 226 against.
Announced early April, just after the municipal elections, the return to the Senate of the proposed bill to introduce assisted suicide and euthanasia reveals the way in which the government is imposing its priorities.
The debates at the National Assembly confirmed the will of the advocates of so-called “assistance in dying” to no longer bother about any of the safeguards which had erstwhile been tabled by the government in an attempt to address the concerns of the French public.
The access criteria remain extensive: The notion of constant physical or psychological suffering, which had been suggested as a safeguard, has been deleted. The conscience clause for establishments has been rejected as well as for chemists, all of which are being forced to participate in the distribution of the lethal product. A severe obstruction offence has been confirmed, meekly offset by a light penalty against the pressures which might be applied in favour of assisted suicide and euthanasia. The text is violent, in one direction only.
As stated by Tugdual Derville, Alliance VITA’s spokesman:
“We already explained, at the very beginning of the discussions, that as soon as the prohibition against killing is lifted, no safeguards can hold. The consequences, which are quite rightly causing alarm among the French public, are already serious: suicide prevention, the relationship of trust between carers and patients and the safety of the most vulnerable are being jeopardised. At a time when access to healthcare is deteriorating in many regions, the aged, the sick, the handicapped and those confronting poverty could be tempted to turn towards euthanasia or assisted suicide by default, through a lack of suitable devices for their relief and accompaniment.”
In view of this predictable regression, we are calling on the Prime Minister to suspend the debates around this bill and on the other hand to concentrate efforts on the development of palliative care which by contrast enjoys unanimous support.
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