A demonstrator holds a placard reading “Dignity not death!” during the “Marche pour la Vie” (“March for Life”) to protest against France’s bill for the creation of a right to assisted dying, at the Place Vauban in Paris on Jan. 18, 2026. A major societal reform of the French president’s second five-year term, a bill on assisted dying has been debated multiple times and the National Assembly gave final approval on July 15, making France one of the few European countries to legalize the practice.
The vote, ending an unusual parliamentary stalemate between the National Assembly and the Senate, came three years after President Emmanuel Macron first opened the question to national debate.
