The French National Assembly debated on November 19 this year a bill “Droit de finir sa vie dans la dignité”, introduced by Manuel Valls, a member of the Socialist Party. His proposal was based on the Dutch and Belgian laws. The debate went on for more then 3 hours, after which a majority (all members of the Socialist Party were present) were about to vote in favor, when the French Health Minister invoked an article from the constitition to postpone the final debate and voting on procedural arguments to the following week. That debate – with a larger presence of religious members of the Assembly – ended in a defeating vote: 203 members in favor, 327 said no, with 35 abstentions.
