France on Monday became the first country to explicitly include voluntary termination of pregnancy (IVG) in its Constitution, to the great dismay of the Vatican, and in contrast to many countries where the right to abortion is declining.
“We have a moral debt” towards all women who have “suffered in their flesh” from illegal abortions, declared Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, opening before the two houses of parliament meeting in Congress the debates aimed at including in the Constitution the freedom to resort to abortion.
The Prime Minister welcomed a “fundamental step” which “will go down in history”, recalling that the right to voluntary termination of pregnancy remains “in danger and” at the mercy of those who decide about it”. »
Deputies and senators solemnly gathered at the Palace of Versailles should approve by a very large majority the modification of the Constitution proposed by the government of President Emmanuel Macron.
Four days before March 8, International Women’s Rights Day, this reform will introduce the sentence into article 34: “The law determines the conditions under which the freedom guaranteed to women to have recourse to a voluntary interruption is exercised. of pregnancy”.
A three-fifths majority of the votes cast is required to approve this change. It should be achieved without difficulty.
It will be “the first constitutional provision so explicit and broad on the subject, not just in Europe, but in the world,” underlined Leah Hoctor, of the Center for Reproductive Rights, an American organization defending the right to abortion.
The Vatican reiterated its opposition to any “right to suppress human life” on Monday at the time of this historic vote.
“In the era of universal human rights, there can be no ‘right’ to take human life,” said the Pontifical Academy for Life, the Vatican body responsible for bioethical issues, in a statement in support of the opposition of the bishops of France.
The meeting of the French Congress will complete a long political battle launched by the left, supported by feminist associations and finally embraced by the government after several parliamentary initiatives.
To mark the event, “a message” will be projected on the Eiffel Tower with special flickering at 6:30 p.m. local time (5:30 p.m. GMT), voting time.
” Message of hope “
Supported by more than 80% of the French population according to various surveys, the constitutionalization of abortion has gradually established itself in the political landscape.
Even the right and the far right, historically opposed or skeptical of the formulation adopted by the government, ended up voting mainly for the reform, despite certain reluctance.
IVG was legalized in France in 1975, four years after a shock appeal in which 343 women, including actresses Jeanne Moreau and Catherine Deneuve and writers Simone de Beauvoir, Marguerite Duras and Françoise Sagan, revealed that they had had an abortion.
A tireless campaigner for this constitutionalization, Family Planning welcomed in advance the “message of hope” that the Congress will send “to feminists around the world”. “Because in France and throughout the world, the right to abortion is still seriously threatened,” underlined the association for the defense of women’s rights, particularly in matters of sexuality and contraception.
“Cultural battle”
This was demonstrated spectacularly with the annulment in June 2022 in the United States of the Roe v. Wade, who protected access to abortion at the federal level. Since then, many states have severely restricted or even banned abortion on their soil and thousands of Americans are forced to undertake painful and expensive trips to have an abortion.
This decision across the Atlantic had the effect of an electric shock on French opinion and elected officials, leading to the first initiatives the same year, initially under the leadership of the radical left.
In March 2023, Emmanuel Macron announced his desire to include in the Constitution the “freedom” to resort to abortion.
In recent days, few hostile voices have been heard. The Conference of Bishops of France relayed on Monday the call “to fasting and prayer” launched by several Catholic associations. “Of all European countries, […] France is the only one where the number of abortions is not decreasing and has even increased over the last two years,” she said.
Opponents of abortion announced a mobilization in Versailles on Monday afternoon, while supporters of the reform met at the Trocadéro in Paris where a retransmission of the vote on a giant screen was organized at the initiative of the town hall and the Women’s Foundation.
“It’s a global event, an inspiration for women around the world. It exceeded our dreams! » reacted to AFP Claudine Monteil, feminist pioneer who was the youngest signatory in 1971 of the “Manifesto of the 343”.