French lawmakers approved a bill that would enshrine a woman’s right to abortion in the French Constitution during a joint session of parliament at the Palace of Versailles on Monday.
The legislation was approved by an overwhelming majority of 780 to 72. Both houses of parliament, the National Assembly and the Senate, have already passed a bill to amend Article 34 of the French Constitution, which states that a woman’s right to abortion is guaranteed.
Ahead of the historic vote, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal addressed 925 lawmakers at Versailles and urged them to make France a leader in women’s rights and set an example of women’s rights for countries across the globe. Attal paid tribute to Simone Veil, a former health minister and leading feminist who backed a bill to decriminalise abortion in France in 1975.
We have a moral debt to women. We have a chance to change history. Make Simone Veil proud.
The lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, overwhelmingly approved the proposal in January, with the Senate passing the bill on Wednesday.
None of France’s main political parties represented in parliament has questioned abortion rights, including Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party and conservative Republicans.
Le Pen, who won a record number of seats in the National Assembly two years ago, declared Monday that her party would vote in favour of the bill but added that “there is no need to make this a historic day.”
The abortion right is widely supported among the French public. A recent poll revealed that support was over 80 per cent and that the vast majority of people were in favour of enshrining the law in the constitution.
In the introduction to the bill, the Government argued that the right to abortion was under threat in the United States, where the Supreme Court in 2022 had overturned a 50-year-old decision previously guaranteeing the right.
Unfortunately, this event is not isolated: in many countries, even in Europe, there are currents of opinion that seek to hinder at any cost the freedom of women to terminate their pregnancy if they wish.
Since its adoption in 1958, the French Constitution has been amended 17 times. The last time was in 2008, when Parliament was given more powers and French citizens were given the right to file complaints with the Constitutional Court.
