Paris: France's National Assembly overwhelmingly approved a bill that seeks to enshrine abortion rights for women in the French Constitution, marking a key first step in the legislative process that now requires a vote in the Senate. The measure, passed 493-30 in favour, was promised by French President Emmanuel Macron after a rollback of abortion rights in the United States.
Macron’s government wants Article 34 of France’s constitution amended to include that “the law determines the conditions by which is exercised the freedom of women to have recourse to an abortion, which is guaranteed”. A constitutional amendment is required to be approved by both chambers of the French Parliament and then be approved either in a referendum or by a three-fifths majority of a joint session of the parliament.
Macron’s government is aiming for the second method, although the level of support for the bill is less certain in the Senate than in the National Assembly. Some members of the conservative majority in the Senate have criticized the wording of the proposal, making its passage there more uncertain. If the same version of the bill ultimately passes both houses, Macron would call a special session of all legislators in an attempt to win a three-fifths vote.
“Tonight, the National Assembly and the government did not miss their rendezvous with women’s history,” Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti said as none of France’s major political parties represented in parliament is questioning the right to abortion. Abortion in France was decriminalised under a 1975 law, but there is nothing in the constitution that would guarantee abortion rights.
A long road ahead
The government argued in its introduction to the bill that the right to abortion is threatened in the United States, where the Supreme Court in 2022 overturned a 50-year-old ruling, Roe v Wade, that had guaranteed the right to an abortion. “Unfortunately, this event is not isolated: in many countries, even in Europe, there are currents of opinion that seek to hinder at any cost the freedom of women to terminate their pregnancy if they wish,” the introduction to the French legislation says.
In Poland, a controversial tightening of the already restrictive abortion law led to protests in the country last year The Polish constitutional court ruled in 2020 that women could no longer terminate pregnancies in cases of severe fetal deformities, including Down Syndrome.
If the bill becomes law, France will become the first country in the world to include abortion rights in its constitution, according to a constitutional expert and Guillaume Gouffier Valent, a lawmaker in charge of the law, marking a historic moment for reproductive rights in the country and around the world, CNN reported.
France’s Prime Minister Gabriel Attal hailed the vote as “a great victory for women’s rights,” while Gender Equality Minister Aurore Bergé called it “historic”. However, Gérard Lacher, the president of the French Senate, recently voiced his opposition to the bill, saying he doesn’t think that “abortion is threatened in our country,” and arguing that constitutionalisation is therefore unnecessary.
Responding to these arguments, Bergé highlighted the rise in anti-abortion movements and the rollbacks on abortion rights occuring in other countries, necessitating a permanent safeguarding of abortion rights before a potential conservative shift in politics makes it impossible to do so.
(with inputs from AP)
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