France becomes first country in the world to make abortion a constitutional right

France, on Monday (Mar 4) enshrined the right to abortion in its constitution after lawmakers voted in favour of an article which would give women the “guaranteed freedom” to get the medical procedure for terminating a pregnancy, making it the first country in the world to do so.

About the vote

A joint session of both the lower and upper houses of parliament was convened at the Palace of Versailles where the proposal gained a three-fifths supermajority by French lawmakers which was needed to make the change, with 780 votes in favour and 72 against it.

There was loud applause, cheering, and standing ovation at the joint session as most French lawmakers celebrated the final approval needed to make the right to abortion an explicit protection in the country’s constitution.

The change was also celebrated in central Paris where abortion rights activists had gathered and applauded as the Eiffel Tower was illuminated to mark the occasion and displayed the message “MyBodyMyChoice” after the vote.

Abortion rights are more widely accepted in France than in most other countries with recent polls indicating that 80 per cent of French people back the fact that abortion is legal.

President Emmanuel Macron described the move as “French pride” and said that it sends a “universal message”. He also announced a special public ceremony planned on International Women’s Day on March 8 to celebrate the move.

The vote on Monday has enshrined in Article 34 of the French constitution that “the law determines the conditions in which a woman has the guaranteed freedom to have recourse to an abortion”.