The French government will introduce a bill in the “coming months” to add the right to abortion to the country’s constitution, President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday during an event marking International Women’s Day.
(Bloomberg) — The French government will introduce a bill in the “coming months” to add the right to abortion to the country’s constitution, President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday during an event marking International Women’s Day.
The legislation would allow France to “carve in stone women’s freedom to turn to abortion,” Macron said. He made the announcement during a speech commemorating Gisèle Halimi, a lawyer and feminist who defended women who terminated their pregnancies, and who died in 2020.
Since the US Supreme court decision to end the constitutional right to abortion last June, a number of activists in France have demanded the government shield that right for good, even as anti-abortion movements are limited in the country. Last year, a poll showed a large majority of French people want abortion protected by the constitution.
Macron’s decision means that the government is taking over the legislative process. Instead of a public referendum, it’s likely that the two houses of parliament will make the decision, increasing the likelihood that the text will be adopted.
In February, the Senate — controlled by Les Republicains who tend to be conservative on family matters — amended the initial proposal tabled by Jean-Luc Melenchon’s far-left party. Senators altered the text to guarantee the “freedom” rather than “the right” to abort, a change criticized by some feminists.
(Adds details on legislative process from third paragraph)
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