Both chambers of the French parliament voted today at a joint meeting in Versailles to enshrine the right to abortion in the constitution. This was reported by the AFP agency, according to which the bill was approved by an overwhelming majority of 780 to 72 votes and received a long standing ovation. French President Emmanuel Macron, who supported the constitutional change, welcomed the vote’s result, as did women’s rights organisations. The anti-abortion movement, on the other hand, criticized the decision.
France thus enshrined the right to abortion in the constitution at a time when it is questioned or denied in the United States and some European countriesnoted AFP.
Macron last year on the occasion of International Women’s Day, he declared that he supports the inclusion of the right to abortion in the constitution. He did so roughly a year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that established the right to abortion across the United States until about the 22nd week of pregnancy.
According to opinion polls, around 80 percent of French people support the legalization of abortion. Abortion rights activists gathered in central Paris today to cheer and clap as the Eiffel Tower glittered in the background and ‘MyBodyMyChoice’ appeared on a giant screen (My Body, My Choice) when the result of the vote was announced, the AP reported.
“We are sending a message to all women: your body belongs to you and no one can decide for you,” Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said before the vote. “Let us celebrate together the beginning of a new freedom guaranteed by the Constitution,Macron wrote on the X social network.
Women have had the legal right to an abortion in France since 1974. But a 2022 US Supreme Court decision prompted activists to pressure France to become the first country to explicitly protect the right in its constitution.
However, enshrining the right to abortion in the constitution was not without criticism. The president of the Association of Catholic Families, Pascale Morinière, called the move a defeat for anti-abortion campaigners.