BBC.com reports: “French MPs have voted to allow some people in the last stages of a terminal illness the right to assisted dying.

The National Assembly approved the bill, which is backed by President Emmanuel Macron, by 305 votes to 199. It will now go to the upper house, the Senate, before a second reading in the National Assembly. Supporters hope it will become law by 2027.

It would make France the eighth country in the European Union to allow a version of assisted dying.

As currently framed, the French version would be not as permissive as in the Netherlands or neighbouring Belgium, which were the first countries in Europe to legalise assisted dying.

A separate bill creating a right to palliative care went through unopposed. It is estimated that 48% of French patients who require palliative care do not get it.

Macron said the decision to approve both bills was ‘an important step’ in a social media post on Tuesday…”