This Monday, France became the first country in the world to include the right to abortion in its Constitution with 780 votes in favor and 72 against, well above the minimum threshold of 512 votes of deputies and senators. It is a fact that occurs for the first time worldwidehailed by women’s rights groups as historic and harshly criticized by anti-abortion groups.

Surveys show that around 80% of French people support a woman’s right to abortion. “France is on the front line,” said the president of the lower house of Parliament, Yaël Braun-Pivet, opening a joint meeting of the lower and upper houses of Parliament under the golden roofs of the Palace of Versailles.

“I am proud of this Congress, which will say that the right to abortion will now be part of our fundamental law,” she noted. The decision, which recognizes women’s constitutional right to abortion, has led activists to pressure France to become the first country to clearly protect that right in its basic law.

“This right (to abortion) was withdrawn in the United States. Therefore, nothing authorized us to think that France was exempt from this risk,” declared Laura Slimani, from the Women’s Foundation.