France has become the first country in the world to enshrine the right to an abortion in its constitution. The change comes after a pledge made by President Emmanuel Macron in the wake of the historic overturning of in the US in 2022, and is the first amendment to the French constitution since 2008.
Both houses of parliament came together in a rare meeting at the Palace of Versailles yesterday afternoon (March 4) for the vote. Before things got underway, the reports Prime Minister Gabriel Attal told the congress, “We’re sending a message to all women: your body belongs to you and no one can decide for you.”
Abortion was decriminalized in France in 1975, and since then nine further updates to the legislation have been passed to broaden access to the procedure. In 2022, in quick succession extended the legal limit for all-circumstance abortion to 14 weeks of pregnancy and expanded access to via up to seven weeks.
But while a number of countries allow legal termination of pregnancy, and some mention reproductive rights in their constitutions, France’s constitution is now the first to explicitly guarantee access to abortion.
“I want to send a message to feminists outside of France. Everyone told me a year ago it was impossible,” Green Party senator Mélanie Vogel, who strongly backed the change, told the , adding, “Nothing is impossible when you mobilize society.”
The news was welcomed by many in the international medical community, including on social media platform by the Director-General of the World Health Organization Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The are also in favor of the change. Recent data from pollsters put France second only to Sweden in terms of the percentage of the population who agree abortion should be legal (82 percent).
That’s not to say that the political journey of this amendment always ran smoothly. There were some concerns it might not pass the conservative-dominated Senate – a necessary step before it could be put to the lower houses – after some debate about the wording, but a compromise was reached.
The topic of abortion does not always provoke the same controversy in France as it continues to in the US. reports that none of the major political parties, either right- or left-leaning, were seriously questioning the morality of abortion during the process of passing this amendment.
It is perhaps noteworthy that France’s 14-week limit is lower than the that’s been cropping up as a conservative talking point as the US revs up for its presidential election later this year. However, in stark contrast to the US, abortion care in France is fully reimbursed by the country’s statutory health insurance system.
Going forward, this amendment ensures that future governments will be able to do little to roll back the rights of pregnant people in France to seek .