French Justice Minister Éric Dupond-Moretti said his country could face a “historic day” as “the first country in the world to protect in its constitution the freedom of women” to be their own bosses.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced in March 2023 that he wanted to have the right to abortion included in the constitution. He did this in response to the removal of the general right to abortion in the United States by the US Supreme Court.
In January this year, the French Assemblée Nationale, the lower house of parliament, subsequently adopted the reform by an overwhelming majority. However, it remained to be seen what the House of Lords would do. In order to pass the constitutional revision, the Senate, which is dominated by the right and the center, would have to approve the text in the same terms, but the chosen wording aroused resistance from the right-wing majority in the Senate.
Despite resistance from some senators, the House of Lords gave its approval on Wednesday with 267 votes in favor and 50 against, without affecting the government’s text. Macron meanwhile responded to .
Abortion has been legal in our southern neighbors since the mid-1970s.