France Moves to Put Abortion Rights in Constitution

Wash Post, France Moves to Put Abortion Rights in Constitution and US Curbs Access

Months after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, France is moving toward enshrining abortion rights in its constitution.

French President Emmanuel Macron said this would send “a universal message of solidarity to all women who today see this right violated.”***

In France, Macron said he hoped a bill on the constitutional revision would be submitted to Parliament “in the coming months.”

The president made the announcement on International Women’s Day at an event honoring Tunisian-born French lawyer Gisèle Halimi, a defender of abortion rights who was central to its legalization in France and died in 2020 at 93.

The constitutional amendment’s final adoption is probably still months away. Both houses of the French Parliament have in recent months voted in favor of enshrining protections in the constitution, despite differing on the terminology between calling it a “freedom” or a “right” to abortion. And if Macron’s proposal fails, French voters may have to decide in a nationwide referendum.