A“My body, my decision” could be read in bright letters in the Eiffel Tower on Monday evening. Meanwhile, on Trocadéro Square with a view of the Paris landmark, a crowd cheered the decision of the assembled parliamentarians at the Palace of Versailles to enshrine the right to abortion in the constitution. The voting result was clearer than expected. 780 representatives and senators voted for the constitutional change.
From now on, Article 34 is supplemented with the sentence: “The law shall determine the conditions under which the woman's freedom to terminate her pregnancy is exercised.” There were 72 votes against. 50 parliamentarians abstained from voting. The three-fifths majority required for constitutional amendments was 512 votes. On International Women's Day on March 8th, President Emmanuel Macron wants to sign the constitutional amendment in a solemn ceremony.
Reaction to abortion ruling in the United States
He wrote on Platform X: “France’s pride. Universal message.” There are still efforts to anchor what from the French perspective is “universal” women’s rights in the EU. “The next stage will be to inscribe this freedom in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, as France proposed in January 2022,” wrote former Europe Minister Clément Beaune.
In the afternoon, the deputies and senators sat down in the slightly dusty plenary hall with a view of a painting of the Estates General during the revolution. When constitutional changes are made, parliamentarians meet in a wing of the former royal palace. In his speech, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal spoke of a “moral guilt” towards all women who suffered from the ban on abortion. “We are haunted by the suffering and the memory of so many women who have suffered for decades from not being able to be free,” he said.
The initiative for the constitutional amendment arose following the decision of the Supreme Court in the United States in June 2022 to restrict the right to abortion. But developments in Poland were also followed critically. In Poland, a stricter abortion law came into force in 2021 following a ruling by the Constitutional Court, but the new Prime Minister Donald Tusk wants to loosen it again.
Macron is concerned about his credibility as an advocate for women's rights
France is the first country in the world to protect women's rights in the constitution, said the President of the National Assembly, Yael Braun-Pivet. It was also the first time that the congress was led by a woman. MPs celebrated the vote as “historic”. The leader of the left-wing party La France insoumise (LFI), Mathilde Panot, described the decision as a promise for all women who fought for the right to abortion worldwide. France is reflecting on its vocation as a “beacon of human rights,” said Panot, who submitted the first draft of the constitutional amendment.
President Macron hopes this will strengthen his credibility as an advocate for women's rights. This was recently shaken when he aggressively defended the actor Gérard Depardieu against allegations of rape. Although the judiciary is investigating him, Macron described the actor as a “genius of his art” who “makes France proud.”
“The constitutional change will be a positive element that can be recorded on the credit side of Macron's balance sheet,” said the chairwoman of the High Council for Women's Equality, Sylvie Pierre-Brossolette. “The head of state has lived up to his role,” praised Anne -Cécile Mailfert, chairwoman of the Women's Foundation In France, abortions up to the tenth week of pregnancy have been unpunished since 1975. Pregnant women can now have an abortion up to the 14th week, and the health insurance company covers the costs.
According to polls, more than 80 percent of French people supported the constitutional change. The Republicans (LR) also bowed to the pressure of public opinion. The LR parliamentary group leader in the Senate, Bruno Retailleau, voted against the constitutional change “for personal reasons”, but gave his group the freedom to make the decision. He warned against degrading the constitution into a “catalog of social and societal rights”.
Several hundred anti-abortion activists gathered near the Palace of Versailles to protest against the constitutional change. The President of the French Bishops' Conference, Archbishop Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, issued an appeal denouncing the lack of protection of children's rights. France is one of the few Western European countries where the number of abortions has increased in the past two years. The right-wing nationalist politician Philippe de Villiers spoke of an “outrageous act”.
The strongest rejection came from the Rassemblement National faction. Eleven RN MPs voted against the constitutional change and 20 abstained. Marine Le Pen voted in favor, but complained that no one in France had questioned the right to abortion.
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