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

March 4, 2024, will remain a historic day for women's rights in France. Nearly 50 years after the decriminalisation of abortion, the country has become the first in the world to engrave voluntary termination of pregnancy (abortion) in stone in its constitution.

Parliamentarians from both chambers (deputies and senators) met at the Versailles Congress to vote for the inclusion in the constitution of the “guaranteed freedom” to resort to an abortion. A total of 780 parliamentarians voted in favour. To pass, the bill required a three-fifths majority in congress.

“Today, France sent a historic message to the whole world: women's bodies belong to them and no one has the right to dispose of them in their place. This is a second victory for Simone Veil and for all those who paved the way,” declared Prime Minister Gabriel Attal on X, after the congress.

When the result of the vote was announced, hundreds of people gathered at the Trocadéro in Paris to experience a historic and emotional moment.

To celebrate the vote of congress, the Eiffel Tower was illuminated, and the inscription "My body, my choice" was inscribed in gold letters on the monument.

At the same time, an anti-abortion rally was organised a few meters from the Palace of Versailles, where the congress was being held—a good reminder of the importance of constitutionalising fundamental rights in the face of looming threats.

From now on, France has erected a shield around the right to abortion. The President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron announced that a "sealing ceremony" would be organized on March 8, on the occasion of International Women's Rights Day.

It will be a “popular ceremony that is as open as possible to mark the outcome of this collective fight,” the Élysée told the French media outlet BFMTV.

The inclusion of abortion in the French Constitution was not without difficulties. In the senate, mainly among the right, there were many opponents of the bill. Ultimately, the text received 267 votes in favor and 50 against at the Luxembourg Palace on February 28.

The senators first said "no" to the constitutionalization of the right to abortion in October 2022, before finally voting "yes" in February 2023 (photo) after a modification of the text of the bill.

The National Assembly gave the green light in January 2024 by voting in favour of including abortion in the constitution. Four hundred ninety-three deputies voted in favour of the text at first reading, and 30 voted against it.

To include abortion in the constitution, a bill was first led by LFI and Renaissance deputies in the National Assembly in 2022. However, according to Article 89 of the constitution, when a bill law concerning its revision comes from Parliament, its ratification can only be made by referendum.

To avoid a referendum, several deputies had urged former Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and her government to present the revision text in a bill.

Finally, on the occasion of International Women's Rights Day, the Head of State announced the bill to revise the constitution. On March 8, 2023, Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to feminist lawyer Gisèle Halimi when he recalled his intention to strengthen the right to abortion by including it in the constitution.

Once adopted by the majority of deputies and senators, the bill could be ratified by the votes of parliamentarians at the Congress of the Parliament in Versailles, as provided in Article 89.

The Veil law has guaranteed the right to abortion in France since January 17, 1975. Although this right is already enshrined in French law and is not currently threatened in France, the American Supreme Court's decision to revoke abortion rights in the United States in June 2022 caused the French to want this right to be protected.

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“Certainly, this right is not threatened today, but when it is, it will be too late to protect it,” declared environmentalist senator Mélanie Vogel (pictured), author of a first bill in the senate, which also aimed to enshrine the right to abortion in the constitution.

As the example of the United States has recently shown us, the law guaranteeing access to abortion is not safe from being called into question one day or even from being modified. Engraving it in the constitution allows both to protect it and to affirm its importance in French society.

This is not the first time that the constitution has been revised in France. For example, equality between men and women was enshrined in the constitution in 1999, as was the ban on the death penalty in 2007.

The initial text of the bill, voted on November 24, 2022, concerned abortion and contraception. But after an agreement between La France Insoumise (LFI) and the presidential majority, the article was rewritten to only concern abortion.

After the adoption of this text in the National Assembly, the president of the LFI group, Mathilde Panot, welcomed a “historic” vote: “I am very moved, both by this vote, and by this historic signal that the the National Assembly is honored to send to all the women of our country, but also to all women in the world,” she declared in front of her fellow deputies.

Although the right to abortion has been established in France for more than 45 years, accessibility defects have often been pointed out. For example, a practitioner may, out of conviction, refuse to perform an abortion. The closure of maternity wards, which are also abortion centers, can also jeopardize women's access to abortion. Several advances took place during 2022 to overcome these limitations.

In February 2022, Parliament voted in favor of a bill providing for the extension of the period for voluntary termination of pregnancy from 12 to 14 weeks. This law also allows midwives to perform instrumental abortion in health establishments. Its aim is to make abortion even more accessible than it is today in France.