France has become the first country to enshrine the right to abortion in its constitution, as French lawmakers gathered for a historic joint session at the Palace of Versailles on Monday.
Out of 925 MPs and senators eligible to vote, 780 supported the amendment giving women the “guaranteed freedom” to choose an abortion.
Nearly the entire joint session stood in applause for the result, and in central Paris, crowds gathered to cheer around the Eiffel Tower, which was lit for the occasion with the words “My body, my choice”.
Abortion was decriminalised in France in 1975, but the move from abortion activists to make it basic law was in direct response to the US Supreme Court’s decision in 2022 to reverse the Roe v Wade ruling that guaranteed women’s access to abortion.
Mathilde Panot, an MP from France Unbowed, who proposed inscribing the abortion rights in the constitution, spoke to the assembly of lawmakers to say that this “historic vote” is “a promise to all women around the world who are fighting for the right to have control over their bodies in Argentina, in the United States, in Andorra, in Italy, in Hungary, in Poland.”
“Like an echo,” she said, “today’s vote tells them that their fight is ours, and that this victory is theirs.”
France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, said he had promised to make women’s freedom to choose an abortion “irreversible”.
The measure had already been passed by the upper and lower houses, the Sénat and the Assemblée Nationale, but final approval by parliamentarians at Monday’s joint session was needed to effect constitutional change.
When the amendment passed, the crowds of thousands gathered in Paris erupted in celebration, with mothers and daughters embracing. And the square around the Eiffel Tower became a street party as people sang out the lyrics in Beyonce’s song–“Who run the world, girls”.
With this new law now enshrined in the constitution, Macron announced a “sealing ceremony– a tradition reserved for the most significant laws– would occur Friday, on International Women’s Day.
The prime minister, Gabriel Attal, spoke to the crowd at the Congress Hall on Monday, saying that “we are haunted by the suffering and memory of so many women who were not free.”
“Today, the present must respond to history. To enshrine this right in our constitution is to close the door on the tragedy of the past and its trail of suffering and pain. It will further prevent reactionaries from attacking women,” said Attal.
“Let’s not forget that the train of oppression can happen again. Let’s act to ensure that it doesn’t, that it never comes this day.”
“I say to all women within our borders and beyond, that today, the era of a world of hope begins.”