French senators voted Wednesday to enshrine the right to abortion in the country’s constitution.
If the bill is approved by a three-fifths vote of both chambers, which is expected on Monday, France will become the first country in the world to constitutionally provide access to the procedure.
The lower house overwhelmingly approved the proposal in January. President Emmanuel Macron’s government had pushed for an amendment to Article 34 of the constitution to refer to “the freedom of women to resort to abortion, which is guaranteed.”
In its submission to the bill, the government said the changes were necessary following the rollback of abortion rights in the US, where in 2022 the Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v Wade decision that guaranteed access to the procedure nationwide.
The lower house has approved enshrining a “right” to abortion in 2022, but some senators have opposed the term. Last year, the Senate said it agreed to use the term “freedom” – after much debate, the government eventually settled on the phrase “guaranteed freedom” as a compromise.
France’s IFOP conducted a poll in November 2022 that showed 86 per cent of French people support making abortion a constitutional right.
The constitutional change would require final approval by a three-fifths majority at a joint session of parliament, traditionally held at the Palace of Versailles. Minutes after the Senate voted in favour of approval, the Elysee Palace said in a statement that Macron would summon lawmakers to Versailles on Monday to formally approve the changes.
According to French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, this day will mark “the political and parliamentary history of our country,” describing the inclusion of abortion in the Constitution on X as an “immense step forward.”
More than 95% of women in Europe live in countries where some form of abortion is legal. Some 39 European countries have legalised abortion at will, albeit with some restrictions. Six countries have strict restrictions, and only three (Andorra, Malta and San Marino) do not allow abortion at all.
In France, the time limit for elective abortion is 14 weeks, less than the proposed 15-week nationwide ban that has sparked loud debate in the United States. However, abortion services are fully reimbursed by France’s social security system.
French law allows medical abortion during the first nine weeks of pregnancy (increased from seven during the Covid pandemic).
In Poland, a controversial tightening of an already restrictive abortion law led to protests in the country last year. In 2020, Poland’s constitutional court ruled that women could no longer terminate pregnancies for severe foetal deformities, including Down syndrome.
