France’s parliament has voted in favour of a bill to legalise assisted dying, paving the way for euthanasia and assisted dying under what campaigners say would still be some of the strictest conditions in Europe.
After a sometimes emotional session, deputies passed the first reading of the bill by a vote of 305 to 199. They also unanimously backed a less contentious law establishing a right to palliative care in specialist end-of-life institutions.
Both votes are the start of a long parliamentary process that will require the bills to move on to the Senate – the upper house – and then back to the lower house – the National Assembly – for a second reading, meaning they are unlikely to become law before next year.
Canada’s assisted suicide program has some serious problems. They’re pushing people with disabilities to suicide rather than provide enough money and community support for them to have a decent quality of life. A paralympic athlete was offered it and she was justifiably offended.
In the abstract, I’m in favor of it. There needs to be significant thought put into how it’s implemented though, and it can’t be done in lieu of a reasonable quality of life for disabled people like Canada did.