France becomes the first country to protect abortion in its Constitution

France This Monday became the first country to register the “guaranteed freedom” to abort in its Constitution, a historic decision against the current that seeks to open “an era of hope” in the world after several setbacks.

“French pride, universal message”celebrated on the social network X President Emmanuel Macron, who announced that the final constitutionalization ceremony will take place on March 8, on the occasion of International Women’s Day.

Almost half a century after its decriminalization in France, there is broad social support, but the decision of the United States Supreme Court in 2022 to stop recognizing it as a right at the federal level set off alarm bells.

Months later, the left-wing opposition and the ruling party in France began a long legislative process, which they crowned this Monday with the protection of abortion with a large majority of legislators: 780 voted in favor and 72 against.

When the result was known, associations and deputies, especially from the left, chanted “L’Hymne des Femmes” (The Women’s Anthem), in the illustrious Congress Hall, created in the 19th century in the Palace of Versailles and which hosted the joint meeting of deputies and senators.

“I say to all women, within our borders and beyond, that the era of a world of hope begins,” said Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, for whom abortion “remains in danger.” in the world, “at the mercy of those who decide.”

The American Donald Trump, the Argentine Javier Milei, the Brazilian Jair Bolsonaro and the Hungarian Viktor Orban are some of the leaders or former leaders that the opposition cited as an example of this threat.

Dressed in green and with a scarf of the same color on her forearm“in tribute to Argentine women”the leftist deputy Mathilde Panot dedicated this “victory” to all those who “struggle to decide about their body” in the world.

Before France, Chile already tried to introduce the right for women to “a voluntary interruption ofl pregnancy” (IVE) in its draft new Constitution in 2022, which Chileans rejected in a referendum.

On the opposite side, some countries implicitly prohibit it in their fundamental law by enshrining a right to life from conception, as in the case of the Dominican Republic, the Philippines, Madagascar, Honduras and El Salvador.

“The Chileans helped us achieve it here” opening the way, said the leftist representative born in Chile, Raquel Garrido, for whom France’s decision “It will have repercussions throughout the world.”

“My body, my decision”

The inscription was received with joy on the Trocadero esplanade in Paris, where, feminist associations called, hundreds of people were able to watch the Eiffel Tower blink and project messages such as: “My body, my decision.”

“If men could get pregnant, I think it would have happened in 1972.”″Cecilia Carimalo, 46, told AFP, who, along with her 12-year-old daughter, celebrated that women’s rights are “a little more protected in France.”

Before the Congress, the speakers paid tribute to the French women who worked for women’s rights, from the philosopher Simone de Beauvoir, author of “The second sex”, to the lawyer Gisèle Halimi, who in October 1972 managed to acquit a 16-year-old girl who had an abortion after a rape.

Under the gold of Versailles, legislators rose from their red velvet benches to applaud the late Simone Veil, Holocaust survivor and architect of the decriminalization of abortion in France as a minister in 1975.

Although its practice is difficult in rural areas, the number of voluntary terminations of pregnancy has remained stable for two decades at around 230,000 annually. In 2022, the deadlines were extended to 14 weeks.

Although around 80% of French people support the protection of abortion in the Constitution, according to polls, and there is a broad political consensus from the extreme right to the radical left, the bishops called this Monday “to fasting and prayer.”

“In the era of universal human rights, there can be no ‘right’ to take human life.”The Pontifical Academy for Life, the Vatican body in charge of bioethics issues, said in a statement.