4th March, 2024
France has made history as the only country in the world to enshrine abortion rights in its constitution, giving women right to terminate their pregnancy.
Abortion access was officially added to the freedoms guaranteed in the French constitution on Monday.
According to France 24, the move was a direct reaction to the rollback of abortion rights in the United States and elsewhere.
Parliamentarians voted to revise the country’s 1958 constitution to enshrine women’s “guaranteed freedom” to abort.
The overwhelming 780-72 vote saw a standing ovation in the parliament in Versailles when the result was announced, the BBC reports.
The CNN reports that Monday’s vote, held during a special gathering of lawmakers at the Palace of Versailles, southwest of Paris, was the final step in the legislative process. The French Senate and National Assembly each overwhelmingly approved the amendment earlier this year.
Lawmakers hailed the move as a history-making way for France to send a clear signal of support on reproductive rights, with abortion under threat in the United States, as well as in parts of Europe, like Hungary, where far-right parties have come to power.
France’s president, Emmanuel Macron hailed the move, saying the amendment would be made on Friday at a ceremony marking the International Women’s Rights Day.
‘Let us celebrate together the entry of a new freedom guaranteed in the Constitution by the first sealing ceremony in our history open to the public. See you this March 8, International Women’s Rights Day,” he tweeted on X.