France Enshrines Abortion as a Guaranteed Freedom in its Constitution
Photo Courtesy: France 24
Today, the 4th March, France’s 925 legislators from both houses united away from Paris, in the emblematic Congress in Versailles, to enshrine abortion rights in the Constitution once and for all. This declares abortion to be a “guaranteed freedom”, a right that is irreversible, a part of the fundamental law.
Amending the Constitution for the first time in 16 years, politicians emphasized the historical importance of this date. One of the major female deputies behind the bill, Mélanie Vogel stated that “France is showing the right to abortion is no longer an option, it’s a condition of our democracy. The French Republic will no longer be the Republic without the right to abortion.”
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal commemorated and gave justice to Simone Veil, Holocaust survivor and Minister responsible for abortion’s decriminalization in 1975, as well as Gisèle Halimi, emblematic lawyer who defended women having had illegal abortions, leading to the acquittal of a 16-year-old girl, Marie-Claire Chevalier, charged for her abortion after having been raped.
The Prime Minister stated that “the present must respond to history”. He reiterated the absolute necessity of this act: “Governing is creating an obstacle to historical tragedy. But also building obstacles with all our strength against the tragedy of the time to come. And politics is making barriers to men’s madness.”
Today’s joint session marks a last symbolic step to the policymaking process, as both houses have already expressed their approval by an overwhelming majority. This final vote concretises the move.
Indeed, this comes after 18 months of parliamentary struggle. After Roe vs Wade’s overturn, Aurore Bergé, the president of the Renaissance Party at the time, was the first to depose an initial text, in June 2022, in order to create a new article in the Constitution, where “no one can be deprived of the right to an abortion”. At the end of the year, the Assemblée Nationale (the lower house) had voted in favour of including the “right” to abortion in the Constitution, proposed by Mathilde Panot, head of the left-wing LFI group in the National Assembly. This was later contested in the Senate, which put forward its approval to enshrine “the freedom to end pregnancy”. The perspective for a public referendum led Macron’s government to propose the bill themselves, and compromised on the term “la liberté garantie”.
The executive proposal was overwhelmingly adopted by the lower house on the by 493 votes for and 30 against, and its apprehended passage through the Senate was successful in adopting the bill with 267 votes in favour and 50 against.
France is the first country in the world to make abortion a constitutional right. From its first drafting to its final outcome, the fragility of this right has been emphasized by legislators and the executive power, stating its regression in the United States and in Europe.
Mathilde Panot, in a green dress as an homage to women in South America, stated the transnational nature of this feminist combat. “Our vote is a promise to all the women fighting for the right to dispose of their bodies throughout the world, in Argentina, in the United States, in Andorra, in Italy, in Hungary, in Poland. Like an echo, this vote tells them: your fight is ours too.”
The Congress adopted the constitutional law by 780 votes in favour and 72 against, out of the 852 votes. “Liberty, equality, fraternity. And, if I could add, sorority.” (Senator Laurence Rossignol)