This decade, the world has witnessed many different takes on abortion like, for example, the reversing of Roe v Wade in the United States in 2022. On the contrary, France decided to add abortion as a protected freedom into the French Constitution making 2024 a really important year for women’s rights.
On March 4th, 2024, after 18 months of debate, the French parliament voted for the addition of abortion rights into the constitution in Versailles. The parliament needed a three-fifth majority, which is really hard to obtain, making this addition to the constitution very historic. 780 voted for this inscription while 72 voted against and 50 abstained. Most of the deputies and senators who voted against or abstained are current members of either right-wing and conservative parties: Les Républicains (The Republicans) a right-wing party and Le Rassemblement National (The National Rally) an extreme right-wing party. In addition, a minority of citizens in France, mostly older men, older women, and those with highly religious views, protested the constitutional protection of abortion following the revelation that the parliament was in favor of it.
Following this historical event, as France became the first country in the world to include abortion in a constitution, the parliament did a standing ovation for its historical decision. It was on March 8th, 2024, International Women’s Day, that this freedom of having access to abortion was sealed into the constitution. This decision not only sends a strong message to all the women in France, but also to the world as abortion is a really controversial subject.
Despite being the first country to enter the word abortion into the constitution, the wording of the freedom to access abortion is significantly different from the terms used by most journalists. To clarify, the new law will not protect the right of abortion as it has been deformed since the approval, instead stating, “The law determines the conditions under which the freedom guaranteed to a woman to have recourse to a voluntary termination of pregnancy is exercised.” These are the exact words written into the constitution. This difference needs to be taken into account but does not remove the fact that France has done something historical and is on the path to completely protect abortion rights for women.
France has been a pioneer when it came to abortion thanks to one woman: Simone Veil. Simone Veil was 16 when France was invaded in World War II and was sent to Auschwitz, where she lost both of her parents and her brother. When she came back, she fought for women’s rights and led France to pass a law on January 17th of 1975 to legalize abortion. This law will later on be called “Veil” after the pioneer of women’s rights. She also became the first ever president of the European parliament between 1979 and 1982.
Before Simone Veil, abortion was illegal, and contraceptive pills were only authorized in France in 1967. Following 1975, France continued to evolve concerning abortion rights. In 1982, the national social security would completely reimburse (pay back) the person undergoing the abortion costs and in 2012, a new law was passed with the health insurance paying 100% of abortion charges. In 1999, the morning after pill, which can be taken after a sexual intercourse without protection and is the equivalent of a whole month of the contraceptive pill, was authorized, and in 2022, it became free and anonymous to all minors requesting it. In 2001, the law concerning the delay for an abortion was extended from 10 weeks to 12 weeks and was extended again in 2022 from 12 weeks to 14 weeks into pregnancy.
The current French president Emmanuel Macron is becoming more and more unpopular with the French citizens as he is doing his second mandate, he was first elected in 2017 and then 2022 for five more years. This huge decision will not entirely change the mind of the people, but it will stay as one of the major achievements done under his 10 years of presidency, which will come to an end in 2027. France became and will forever be the first country to guarantee the freedom of abortion into its constitution.
Sophomore Agathe Vanmassenhove is the Sports Editor. Her email is avanmass@fandm.edu.