France’s National Assembly gave final approval on Wednesday to a bill allowing adults to receive lethal medication, ending years of debate over the issue.
Lawmakers in the lower house of parliament passed the measure 291-241, after backing it in three earlier readings.
The vote completes the National Assembly’s work on legislation that President Emmanuel Macron first proposed over three years ago.
Macron said on social media that he had made a commitment to the French people in 2022 to open a path towards “assisted dying”, and that the pledge had now been fulfilled.
The bill still requires review by France’s Constitutional Council before it can come into effect.
It would make assisted suicide legal for adults with a “serious and incurable” life-threatening illness “in an advanced or terminal stage”, which is causing physical or psychological suffering that cannot be relieved.
Patients, who must be able to express a free and informed choice, would self-administer a lethal substance, unless they were physically unable to do so, in which case a doctor or nurse would administer it instead.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has asked the Constitutional Council to examine the legislation, a process that could still affect its final provisions or timeline.
Polling has shown broad support for the legalisation of assisted suicide in France.
Opponents have warned that the law could put pressure on elderly people and those with illnesses or disabilities to end their own lives.
The Catholic Church has opposed the bill, and one bishop has said he would deny communion to lawmakers who voted for it.
Conservative presidential candidate Bruno Retailleau argued that a society built on solidarity should protect its most vulnerable members rather than offering them death.
The campaign Alliance Vita, which opposes assisted suicide, called instead for better access to palliative care.
If the bill clears constitutional review, France will join a number of countries where assisted suicide is already legal, including the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, and Canada.
