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1 of 2 | During a special session of both houses of France’s National Assembly in the Palace of Versailles near Paris on Monday, French women’s rights advocates react after a 780-72 vote to approve a bill that enshrines women’s right to abortion in the constitution. Photo by Christophe Petit Tesson/EPA-EFE
March 4 (UPI) — France became the first country in the world to make abortion a constitutional right Monday, with French lawmakers adopting the bill in a 780-72 vote in a move inspired by the U.S. reversal of Roe vs. Wade.
The law gives women a “guaranteed freedom” to choose for themselves if an abortion is the right choice to make.
The amendment won the support of the three-fifths of the 925 National Assembly and Senate members required to pass in an extraordinary afternoon session at the Palace of Versailles just outside Paris in a move that was overwhelmingly supported by the public.
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said to those assembled in Congress Hall that “we owe a moral debt” to the women who had to suffer through illegal abortions in the past.
After the vote to approve the constitutional change, Paris’ Eiffel Tower was lit with the words in French “my body my choice” in the country where abortion was first legalized in 1975, two years after the United States’ first ruling on Roe vs. Wade.
“We are haunted by the suffering and memory of so many women who were not free,” Attal said, adding that the new constitutional change “will further prevent reactionaries from attacking women.”
While limiting abortion ranked very low on France’s political agenda, lawmakers were prompted to take action to protect abortion rights in 2022 following the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of the 1973 Roe ruling that legalized abortion. Subsequently, several American states have passed laws to restrict or outlaw the procedure.
“I say to all women within our borders and beyond, that today, the era of a world of hope begins,” said Attal, who at 34 became the country’s youngest prime minister.
This was the first time since 2008 that France took steps to change its constitution. There will be a ceremony to finalize the amendment on Friday, which is also International Women’s Day.
The change overcame initial opposition in the upper house to pass on Wednesday four weeks after the assembly approved the measure by 493-30 votes to enshrine the right to terminate a pregnancy in the constitution — despite being legal in the nominally Catholic country for almost 50 years.
On Monday, the Vatican group Pontifical Academy for Life posted on X, “In the era of universal human rights, there can be no ‘right’ to take a human life.”
President Emmanuel Macron pledged last year to enshrine the right to signal his strong support for reproductive rights and score a victory against a far right that is on the rise in France and across Europe.
The move ahead of an election in June has proved a boon for Macron and a problem for the right, while lending him credibility with left-leaning voters.
In January, France’s justice minister referenced how history was full of cases like the reversal of Roe vs. Wade in the United States, where people lose rights they once thought to be safe.
“We now have irrefutable proof that no democracy, not even the largest of them all, is immune,” French Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti said.
“It’s impossible to tell if abortion rights won’t come into question in the future in France,” Mathilde Panot of the left-leaning France Unbowed group in parliament, who also introduced the bill, said at the time.
“It’s important to capitalize when we have the public on our side,” she said, accusing Macron of trying to cash in on an achievement delivered by feminists and MPs.
The clause of the constitution that sets out provisions by which the constitution may be amended states that any proposed revision must be “voted by both assemblies in identical terms” followed by a “yes” vote in a referendum.”
However, amendments can be adopted without a referendum provided the president submits it to Parliament convened in a joint session of both houses.
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