France's National Assembly moved Wednesday to give final approval to a bill allowing adults with incurable illnesses to receive lethal medication, capping a debate President Emmanuel Macron opened more than three years ago [1]. The lower house was widely expected to pass the measure after backing it in three earlier readings.

On X the vote arrives stripped of its conditions. One camp frames it as a hard-won victory for bodily autonomy; the other warns that older, sick and disabled people will be nudged toward death. Both treat the law as a slippery-slope emblem. The safeguards AP documents rarely survive the repost.

Those safeguards are the story. The bill primarily permits medically assisted suicide, with patients self-administering the medication; only those physically unable to do so may receive help from a doctor or nurse [1]. Applicants must be at least 18 and French citizens or legal residents. A doctor must consult a team of professionals and confirm a serious, incurable, life-threatening illness at an advanced or terminal stage, with unbearable pain and a free-willed request. Psychological suffering alone does not qualify, and Alzheimer's and severe psychiatric disorders are excluded [1]. Requests are reviewed within 15 days, then confirmed after at least two days' reflection.

The conservative-majority Senate rejected the bill, but the Assembly has the final say when the houses disagree [1]. Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu and Senate President Gerard Larcher will refer it to the Constitutional Council, which has up to a month to rule before the law can take effect. What the feeds miss is that this fight is not finished.

-- CHARLES ASHFORD, London