On Monday, March 4, French parliament members met in a joint session at the Palace of Versailles to approve a bill enshrining a woman’s right to abortion in the constitution in a historic vote. The bill was approved by an overwhelming vote of 780-72, and nearly the entire joint session received a long standing ovation.
This constitutional amendment amends Article 34 of the French Constitution, stating that “the conditions under which a woman may exercise her freedom to voluntarily terminate her pregnancy shall be established and guaranteed by law.”
The measure was promised by President Emmanuel Macron following a U.S. court ruling reversing the right to abortion. After the bill was adopted, Mr Macron said the move was “French pride” and sent a “universal message”. A special public ceremony is planned to celebrate the move on March 8, International Women’s Rights Day.
Ahead of the historic vote, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal addressed 925 parliamentarians assembled in a joint session in Versailles, urging them to make France a leader in women’s rights and set an example for neighboring countries in defending women’s rights. I called out. world.
“We have a moral debt to women,” Attal said. He paid tribute to Simone Weil, a prominent parliamentarian, former health minister and leading feminist who championed the bill to decriminalize abortion in France in 1975. “We have a chance to change history,” Attal said in a moving and determined speech. “I want to make Simone Weil proud,” he said, to a standing ovation.
The National Assembly overwhelmingly approved the proposal in January. The Senate adopted the bill last Wednesday, clearing a key hurdle for the bill, which aims to make “a woman’s right to an abortion irreversible.” Amendments to the constitution required approval by a three-fifths majority in a joint session.
None of France’s main political parties in parliament, including Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Assembly (RN) and the conservative République, have questioned abortion rights. However, some lawmakers have voted against enshrining the right to abortion in the Constitution in previous votes in both chambers.
Le Pen said on Monday that her party would vote in favor of the bill, but added: “We don’t need to make today a historic day.” 49 out of 91 RN parliament members voted in favor of the bill, 11 opposed and 20 abstained.
Abortion rights are widely supported among the French public. Recent polls showed support of more than 80%, consistent with previous polls. The same opinion poll also revealed that the majority of the people were in favor of enshrining it in the constitution.
Citing the United States
Celebrations were held across France ahead of the historic vote. After the amendment was passed, the Eiffel Tower was lit up in celebration with the slogan “My body, my choice.”
Adding the right to abortion to the constitution will make it much more difficult to prevent women from voluntarily terminating their pregnancies in France, women’s rights and equality activists said. Sara Durocher, a leader in the Planned Parenthood movement, said Monday’s vote was “a victory for feminists and a defeat for anti-choice activists.” “We have increased the level of protection of this fundamental right,” said Anne-Cécile Mehlferre of the Women’s Foundation. “This guarantees current and future women that they have the right to have an abortion in France.”
In its introduction to the bill, the government argued that abortion rights are under threat in the United States. “Unfortunately, this incident is not isolated. Even in Europe, there are currents of opinion in many countries that seek to prevent at all costs women’s freedom to have an abortion if they wish,” France said. The preamble to the law states:
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to strip women of their right to abortion has reverberated through the political landscape in Europe and brought the issue back to public debate in France amid political turmoil.
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“What we thought we had achieved can disappear in a matter of moments,” Yaël Brown-Pivet, the first female speaker of the French National Assembly, said in a joint session.
Amending the constitution is a painstaking process, a rare occurrence in France, requiring either a referendum or a three-fifths majority vote in parliament after both chambers have agreed on a common text. The French Constitution has been amended 17 times since its creation in 1958. The last time was in 2008, when parliament was given more powers and French citizens were given the right to lodge complaints with the Constitutional Court.