Associated Press — A bill enshrining a woman’s right to have an abortion in the French constitution will advance to a historic vote Monday as lawmakers gather in a joint session at the Palace of Versailles.
The measure was promised by President Emmanuel Macron following a U.S. court ruling reversing the right to abortion.
The Macron government wants Article 34 of the French Constitution to be amended to state that “the conditions for the exercise of a woman’s freedom to seek an abortion are established and guaranteed by law.”
The House of Representatives, the National Assembly, overwhelmingly approved the proposal in January. The Senate adopted the bill on Wednesday, clearing a key hurdle for the bill aimed at making “a woman’s right to an abortion irreversible” as promised by Macron’s government.
The bill must be approved by a three-fifths majority in a joint session.
None of France’s main political parties in parliament question the right to abortion, which was decriminalized in 1975. With both houses of parliament passing the bill, Monday’s joint session at the Palace of Versailles is expected to be largely a formality.
In its introduction to the bill, the government argued that the right to abortion is under threat in the United States and that in 2022 the Supreme Court will overturn a 50-year ruling guaranteeing abortion rights.
“Unfortunately, this incident is not isolated. Even in Europe, there are currents of opinion in many countries that seek to prevent at all costs a woman’s freedom to have an abortion if she wishes,” France said. The preamble to the law states:
