French President Macron seals right to abortion in constitution: “The backward steps of our time made it a necessity...”
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French President Emmanuel Macron officially sealed the right to abortion in the country’s constitution Friday.
Earlier this week, French lawmakers voted overwhelmingly in a specially convened session at the Palace of Versailles to pass an amendment referring to abortion as a “guaranteed freedom.” The final tally was 780 in favor and 72 against, far exceeding the required threshold of support from three-fifths of lawmakers, or 512 votes.
France is the first country in the world to explicitly enshrine abortion rights in its constitution.
The effort to do so was galvanized by the rollback of protections for reproductive rights in the United States and in other parts of Europe.
“We will only rest when this promise is upheld everywhere in the world,” Macron said in remarks at a ceremony in Paris on International Women's Day.
“The backward steps of our time made it a necessity and an emergency, because everywhere in the world, including in the greatest democracies … we are observing a step backward in the right to abortion, in women’s rights,” the French president continued.
Macron added that he wants to make the “inscription of this guaranteed liberty” a fundamental right at the European Union level.
