France is set to become the world’s first country to explicitly incorporate abortion rights into its constitution.
A total of 925 members of the National Assembly in Versailles starting at 3:30 pm (1430 GMT) should find the three-fifths majority needed for the change after it overcame initial resistance in the right-leaning Senate.
If Congress approves the move, France will become the only country in the world to clearly protect the right to terminate a pregnancy in its basic law.
The French government cited the rollback of abortion rights in the United States as a reason for the proposed change, following the Supreme Court’s overturning of the Roe v Wade ruling in June 2022.
This move resulted in approximately 20 states either banning abortion outright or severely restricting access. The initiative to enshrine abortion rights in the French constitution passed a significant milestone when it was adopted by the Senate on Wednesday, drawing praise from elected officials and NGOs.
A November 2022 survey by French polling group IFOP found that 86 percent of French people supported inscribing it in the constitution.
Organizations like Planned Parenthood and Osez le Féminisme celebrated the development as a victory for women’s rights. Alice Bordaçarre from the International Federation of Human Rights emphasized that constitutional protection would shield abortion rights from attack by conservative groups.
Despite abortion being legal in France since 1975, there have been concerns about potential rollbacks, prompting calls for constitutional safeguards to ensure the protection of reproductive rights.
Meanwhile, Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday celebrated what he called the Senate’s “decisive step” and immediately called for the parliamentary congress on Monday.
The most recent call to amend the constitution occurred in 2008 when lawmakers approved extensive reforms under former President Nicolas Sarkozy.
These reforms included limiting a president’s tenure to two terms and implementing stronger protections for press independence and freedom.