France's National Assembly has given final approval to a bill allowing adults with incurable illnesses to receive lethal medication, marking the culmination of years of debate over end-of-life care while leaving the measure one legal step away from taking effect.

The AP report says the lower house approved the bill by 291 votes to 241. But the result does not make the measure law immediately. It now goes to a review to determine whether it complies with the French Constitution, and Senate President Gérard Larcher and Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said they would refer it to the Constitutional Council.

The proposed law is narrower than some opponents feared and broader than France's current framework. It would primarily allow medically assisted suicide, in which a patient receives lethal medication and self-administers it. Only patients whose physical condition prevents self-administration would be able to receive assistance from a doctor or nurse. The AP report says people seeking to end their lives would have to be at least 18 and either French citizens or legal residents.

The medical threshold is also strict. A doctor would have to consult a team of healthcare professionals and confirm that the patient has a serious and incurable illness that is life-threatening, is in an advanced or terminal stage and causes pain that cannot be relieved or is unbearable. Psychological suffering alone would not qualify, and people with severe psychiatric disorders or neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's would not be eligible.

Patients would initiate the request, and health professionals would have 15 days to review it. If approved, the patient would then confirm the decision after at least two days of reflection. On the chosen date, the doctor or nurse would verify that the person still wanted to proceed and remain nearby in case complications arose.

The bill's passage is significant in a country that has long wrestled with religious, legal and moral questions about end-of-life care. France already allows doctors to keep terminally ill patients sedated before death, but it had not permitted assisted suicide or euthanasia in the way the new bill describes. President Emmanuel Macron had announced the legislation more than three years ago and said in a message on X that his 2022 commitment had now been fulfilled.

Supporters say the law would give people control over unbearable suffering. The Association for the Right to Die With Dignity said it would let people choose to end suffering freely and with full awareness. Opponents argue the measure could pressure older people and those with disabilities or illness, and the anti-euthanasia group Alliance Vita warned that palliative care and support should come first.

The law still faces one more gate before it can be implemented. That means France has moved decisively toward legalizing assisted dying, but has not yet crossed the constitutional line that would make the policy effective.