French National Assembly Votes for Constitutional Guarantee of Abortion
The bill, passed by 99 votes to 13, is set for a final vote on January 30, marking a step towards making France the first country to enshrine abortion as a constitutional right.
- The French National Assembly has voted in favor of a bill that would make abortion a constitutionally guaranteed freedom for women, with a final vote scheduled for January 30.
- The bill, which passed with 99 votes in favor and 13 against, would add to Article 34 of the Constitution that 'the law determines the conditions under which the freedom guaranteed to women to have access to a voluntary termination of pregnancy is exercised.'
- The wording of the bill was a compromise between those who wanted to enshrine the 'right' to abortion and those who preferred the concept of 'freedom.'
- Opposition to the bill came primarily from right-wing lawmakers, who proposed the majority of the 171 amendments and expressed concerns about the current time limit for access to abortion and the potential for the bill to upset the balance between women's freedom and other constitutional freedoms.
- Any constitutional change needs to be adopted identically by the National Assembly and the Senate before being approved by three fifths of both chambers gathered together for a constitutional congress.
Le Monde 