France amended its constitution to enshrine a woman’s right to abortion, but the U.S.’s 2022 reversal of Roe v. Wade gave those demands a boost.
French lawmakers met at the Palace of Versailles on Monday and approved the bill by a vote of 780 to 72.
Monday’s vote makes France the first country with a constitutional right to abortion since the former Yugoslavia enshrined it in its 1974 constitution.
French lawmakers celebrate the approval of a bill enshrining women’s right to abortion into the French constitution at the Palace of Versailles in Versailles, west of Paris, Monday, March 4, 2024. (Emmanuel Dunant/Poole, via AP)
Abortion has been legal in France since 1975 and enjoys wide support among the French public. Recent opinion polls showed support of more than 80%. The same opinion poll also revealed that the majority of the people were in favor of enshrining it in the constitution.
None of France’s main political parties in parliament, including Marine Le Pen’s National Solidarity Party and the conservative Republican Party, have questioned abortion rights.
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There were jubilant scenes of celebration across France on Monday as women’s rights activists hailed steps promised by President Emmanuel Macron in the aftermath of the US Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision.
Abortion supporters watch live coverage of the French parliament approving a bill enshrining a woman’s right to have an abortion in the French constitution, Monday, March 4, 2024, at Place Trocadéro in Paris. (AP Photo/Oleg Setinich)
Planned Parenthood leader Sara Durocher hailed Monday’s vote as “a victory for feminists and a defeat for anti-choice activists.”
In its introduction to the bill, the government argued that abortion rights are under threat in the United States and that in 2022 the Supreme Court overturned a 50-year-old ruling that legalized abortion at the federal level.
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France’s bill argues that the United States is not alone in this regard, as there is “public opinion in other countries, including Europe, that seeks to prevent at all costs the freedom of a woman to have an abortion if she wishes.” There is.
