France is one step closer to enshrining the right to abortion in the constitution

Demonstrators in Paris expressed support for the bill Photo: Getty

The French Senate on Wednesday passed a bill enshrining a woman's right to abortion in the constitution, eliminating a key obstacle to legislation promised by President Emmanuel Macron in response to the end of abortion rights in the United States.

Wednesday's vote came after the lower house of the National Assembly overwhelmingly approved the proposal in January. The measure will now be put to a joint session of parliament for approval by a three-fifths majority next week.

Mr Macron said after the vote that his government intends to “make women's right to abortion irreversible by enshrining it in constitution.» He said on X earlier on Twitter that he would convene a joint session of parliament for a final vote on Monday.

Macron's government wants Article 34 of the constitution amended to state that «the law defines the conditions under which the guaranteed freedom of women to have an abortion is exercised.»

The Senate passed the bill with 267 votes in favor and 50 in favor. against. “This vote is historic,” said Justice Minister Eric Dupont-Moretti. “The Senate has turned a new page on women's rights.”

Anti-abortion protesters demonstrate on the streets of Paris Wednesday Photo: Kieran Ridley

None of France's main political parties represented in parliament have questioned the right to abortion, which was decriminalized in 1975. With the bill passed by both houses of Parliament, Monday's joint session at the Palace of Versailles is expected to be largely a formality.

In the introduction to the bill, the government argued that abortion rights were under threat in the US, where the Supreme Court 2022 has overturned a 50-year-old decision that previously guaranteed this right.

>“Unfortunately, this is not an isolated event: in many countries, even in Europe, there are movements that seek to prevent women’s freedom to interrupt at all costs. pregnancy if they so desire,” reads the introduction to the French legislation. .

In Poland, a controversial tightening of an already restrictive abortion law led to protests in the country last year. Poland's Constitutional Court ruled in 2020 that women can no longer terminate pregnancies in cases of severe fetal deformities, including Down Syndrome.