The French President, Macron, vowed to make the abortion rights on the constitution in 2024.
Last Sunday, Macron said in an online post that a draft project would be submitted to the State Council, France’s highest administrative court, this coming week, with a view to making abortion rights constitutional by the end of the year. “In 2024, the right of women to choose abortion will become irreversible,” he said.
Macron’s office said that Article 34 of the constitution would be changed to include that “the law determines the conditions by which is exercised the freedom of women to have recourse to an abortion, which is guaranteed. “The move came on the heels of a promise Macron made on March 8, International Women’s Day, which was seen as a response to the overturning of federal abortion rights in the United States last year.
Abortion’s History in France
The termination of a pregnancy was decriminalized in France in 1975 and subsequent laws have since aimed at improving conditions for abortions, notably by protecting the health and anonymity of women.
It was found that 89 percent of respondents were in favor of making abortion rights constitutional, according to an opinion poll done in November 2022Most Notably, 234,000 abortions were carried out in France last year.
The Minister for Gender Equality, Bérangère Couillard, said on X: “This is a victory for all women and a strong symbol sent to other countries of the world where our rights are losing ground.”
Abortion is allowed if two physicians certify that the abortion will be done to prevent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman; a risk to the life of the pregnant woman; or that the child will suffer from a particularly severe illness recognized as incurable.
On February 23, parliament voted to extend the legal timeframe for abortion under any circumstances from the twelfth to the fourteenth week of pregnancy.
On February 19, the government eased access to medication abortion as an alternative to surgical procedures. France’s 12-week time limit for abortion on request had forced thousands of women annually to travel outside of France to perform legal abortions.
