Assisted suicide bills fail in France and Latvia

Moves to legalise euthanasia in France and Latvia have floundered.

The French bill was a personal initiative of a deputy for the parliamentary splinter group Libertes et Territoires (“Freedom and Territories”). He said the law would put a stop to a national “hypocrisy” of French residents travelling to Belgium or Switzerland for assisted suicide while, he claimed, French doctors are secretly performing 2,000 to 4,000 euthanasia every year.

The bill’s opponents filed about 3,000 amendments ahead of the debate which slowed down proceedings and made a vote in the allotted time impossible, thus killing the bill.

Meanwhile, on March 25, after a long debate, the Latvian Parliament (Saeima) rejected a public petition which had called for the legalisation of euthanasia. A total of 49 members voted for rejection, 38 voted against, and two abstained.

Opponents emphasised that Latvia needed to get its palliative care system in order first, before considering right-to-die initiatives. Deputy Vitālijs Orlovs, who is a doctor, declared in the debate: “I was taught to fight for patients’ lives to the end. I cannot imagine injecting a person with some substance to help them die – not for any amount of money.”