PARIS (AP) — French lawmakers overwhelmingly approved a bill Monday. advocate the right to abortion France is the only country whose constitution explicitly guarantees a woman's right to voluntarily terminate her pregnancy.
This historic move was proposed by President Emmanuel Macron as a way to prevent this from happening. revocation of the right to abortion The vote at a special joint session of the French parliament, as seen in the United States in recent years, drew a long standing ovation from lawmakers.
The bill was approved at the Palace of Versailles by a vote of 780 to 72. Abortion is widely supported across most political lines in France and has been legal since 1975.
Many female members of Congress who were present at the venue cheered with big smiles on their faces. A small group of protesters stood outside the joint meeting, but women's rights activists welcomed the move and scenes of jubilation spread across France. President Macron promised within hours Dobbs decision by the U.S. Supreme Court In 2022.
The US decision caused repercussions around the world. European political situationNow that far-right nationalist parties are gaining influence, the issue is being brought back into public debate in some countries.
Both chambers of the French parliament, the National Assembly and the Senate, had separately adopted bills to amend Article 34 of the French Constitution, but the amendments required final approval by a three-fifths majority in a special joint session. The bill specifies that “the law shall determine the conditions under which a woman may exercise her freedom to seek an abortion, which shall be guaranteed.”
France's measures are seen as a step further than those in the former Yugoslavia, where the 1974 constitution stipulates that people are free to decide whether or not to have children. Yugoslavia disbanded in the early 1990s, and all its successor states have adopted similar measures in their constitutions, legally allowing women to have abortions but not explicitly guaranteeing them.
In France in preparation for the vote, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal addressed more than 900 parliamentarians gathered at a joint session in Versailles, calling on France to become a leader in women's rights and a model for the rest of the world.
“We have a moral debt to women,” Attal said.he showed respect Simone Vert A prominent parliamentarian, former health minister, and leading feminist, she supported legislation to decriminalize abortion in France in 1975.
“We have a chance to change history,” Attal said in a moving and determined speech. “I want to make Simone Weil proud,” he said, to a standing ovation.
None of France's major political parties, including Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally and the conservative Republican Party, have questioned abortion rights.
Mr. Le Pen is won a record number of seats The party said on Monday it planned to vote in favor of the bill, which was introduced two years ago in parliament, but added: “We don't need this to be a historic day.”
Recent opinion polls show support for abortion rights among the French public at over 80%, consistent with previous surveys. The same opinion poll also revealed that the majority of the people were in favor of enshrining it in the constitution.
Ahead of the vote, about 200 anti-abortion demonstrators gathered solemnly in Versailles, some holding banners that read, “I was a fetus, too.''
More women's rights activists gathered in Place Trocadéro, overlooking the Eiffel Tower, and cheered in unison as the results were announced. Even before the joint session of Parliament began, some people were celebrating in various parts of France.
Sara Durocher, a leader in the Planned Parenthood movement, said Monday's vote was “a victory for feminists and a defeat for anti-choice activists.”
“We have increased the level of protection of this fundamental right,” said Anne-Cécile Mehlferre of the Women's Foundation. “This guarantees current and future women that they have the right to have an abortion in France.”
In its introduction to the bill, the government argued that abortion rights are under threat in the United States. Supreme Court to overturn in 2022 A ruling from 50 years ago guaranteed this.
“Unfortunately, this incident is not isolated. Even in Europe, there are currents of opinion in many countries that seek to prevent at all costs the freedom of women to have an abortion if they wish.”French law is written in the preface.
“Abortion may not be an issue in France, where the majority of people support abortion,” said Mathilde Philippe Gay, a law professor and expert on French and American constitutional law. “But those same people may one day vote for a far-right government, and what happened in the US could happen in other parts of Europe, including France.”
Enshrining abortion in the French constitution “will make it difficult for anti-abortion opponents to challenge these rights in the future, but with the right political strategy they will be able to block abortions in the long run.” “It won't be,” Philippe-Gay added.
“What we thought we had achieved disappears in a matter of moments,” Yaël Brown-Pivet, the first female speaker of the French parliament, said in a joint session.
Amending the constitution is a painstaking process and a rare occurrence in France. The French Constitution has been amended 17 times since its creation in 1958.
The justice minister said the new amendments would be formally incorporated into the constitution at a public ceremony at Place Vendome in Paris on Friday, International Women's Day.
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Barbara Sark reported from Nice. Michel Euler in Versailles and Oleg Setinich and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed.
