France became the primary nation to enshrine abortion in its national structure in an awesome vote that prompted a standing ovation from the French Parliament in Versailles on Monday.
French lawmakers overwhelmingly voted 780-72 in favor of the bill to amend Article 34 of the French structure. The measure was introduced in January and passed by the French Senate last week.
When the ultimate vote was announced, the room in Versailles Palace erupted with sustained applause, and plenty of who were gathered in Paris’ Trocadéro Square to observe the vote on a big screen also cheered because the amendment passed, in line with The New York Times.
On Monday evening, the Eiffel Tower was emblazoned with the words “My body, my selection.”
Sixty-six percent of respondents supported the amendment, including 76% of those aged 18-34, in line with a YouGov poll in February.
While abortion has been legal in France since 1975, the brand new legislative move has made abortion as much as 14 weeks of pregnancy a “guaranteed freedom” for French women, and future French governments can be barred from drastically modifying it. Abortions are allowed after 14 weeks if the pregnancy poses a threat to the health of the mother or the infant exhibits genetic anomalies.
French legislators were reportedly driven by the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, ruling that a right to abortion isn’t within the U.S. Constitution.
French President Emmanuel Macron backed the measure to amend the French structure, which was adopted in 1958 and only amended about 20 times since.
Macron again tweeted last week in support of the amendment, writing, “I’m committed to creating women’s freedom to have an abortion irreversible by enshrining it within the Constitution.”
“After the National Assembly, the Senate is taking a decisive step which I welcome. For the ultimate vote, I’ll convene Parliament in Congress on March 4,” he wrote.
French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, 34, supported the measure.
“We are sending the message to all women: Your body belongs to you and nobody has the correct to manage it in your stead,” he said during a speech before the ultimate tally, in line with The New York Times.
While the amendment was evidently popular amongst French legislators and plenty of French residents, it drew condemnation from the Vatican and the French Conference of Bishops (CEF).
In a statement last week, the CEF stated that abortion “stays an attack on life from the very starting” and can’t be seen exclusively from the “angle of girls’s rights.” The bishops expressed sadness that the federal government didn’t as an alternative give attention to promoting the rights of girls and youngsters.
In an analogous statement, the Pontifical Academy for Life (PAV) said, “In the era of universal human rights, there can’t be a ‘right’ to taking a human life,” in line with Vatican News.
PAV added that each one governments and non secular traditions must “do their best in order that at this stage in history, the protection of life becomes an absolute priority, with concrete steps in favor of peace and social justice and with effective measures for a universal access to resources, education and healthcare.”
