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.
There is a ton of pressure, both social and financial on disabled/elderly people that could push them to be forced to take that option. Given that the current government is letting public healthcare rot this is not a good look.
That is not something that happens very often, but since death is not reversible (yet) I say we need to make sure people applying for euthanasia actually want to die. But I don’t how this could become a valid reason to skip on giving anyone the possibility to choose whe to die.