PARIS, June 19 -- The French Senate passed a bill late yesterday that includes lack of consent in the country's criminal definition of rape, paving the way for its official adoption in the coming months.

The vote comes several months after a court in Avignon found a French man guilty of drugging his wife so he and strangers could rape her.

The case drew renewed attention to the widespread crime of rape and the issue of consent.

The bill passed this week redefines all sexual assaults - including rape - as "any non-consensual act".

France's lower house of parliament approved a slightly different version of the bill in April.

Yesterday's vote is not the final legislative hurdle. A joint committee of senators and lower-house MPs is expec...