Deven the Eiffel Tower sparkled. When both chambers of France's Parliament, united in Congress at Versailles, wrote the “guaranteed freedom of women to seek abortion” into the constitution on Monday, the 20,000 light bulbs of the Paris steel tower glittered to Beyoncé's song “Run the World (Girls) “, while an illuminated tape rejoiced “My body, my decision”. France is the first country in the world to enshrine the right to abortion in its constitution. Prime Minister Attal spoke of the happy end to a struggle that went back to the decriminalization of abortion under Health Minister Simone Veil in 1974 to the pioneer of gender equality Olympe de Gouges, who was guillotined in 1793.
The history of reform was long and arduous. If you wanted to summarize them in one sentence, you would say: A handful of female parliamentarians were the driving forces – across party divides; on the government side, they were supported by the former Prime Minister Borne and the incumbent Justice Minister Dupond-Moretti; President Macron impressed with his lack of interest. The legislative process undermined the basic Bonapartist dynamic of the Fifth Republic: the reform was not decreed from above, by the head of state, but was pushed through from below, by representatives of the people.
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