First country to stipulate abortion rights guaranteed upon completion of constitutional amendment
A joint vote of the National Assembly on the 4th of next month… Looks like it will be a formality
In France, a constitutional amendment bill guaranteeing freedom of abortion passed the Senate on the 28th (local time).
According to the Associated Press, the French Senate on this day passed a bill to stipulate women’s freedom of abortion into the constitution with 267 votes in favor and 50 against.
Prior to this, the House of Representatives approved this bill on the 30th of last month with 493 votes in favor and 30 against.
A constitutional amendment can be made through a national referendum or if more than three-fifths of the members of the National Assembly approve in a joint vote of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
This time, they chose to convene a joint meeting of both houses. Since the bill has been passed in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, the joint vote in Congress scheduled for the 4th of next month is expected to be a formality.
Once the constitutional amendment process is completed, France will become the first country to enshrine the right to abortion in its constitution.
French President Emmanuel Macron said after the Senate approved the bill, “The government is doing its best to make a woman’s right to abortion an irreversible right by enshrining it in the constitution,” adding, “The final vote is scheduled for Monday (March 4).” “We will convene a joint session of Congress,” he said.
Justice Minister Eric Dupont Moretti welcomed the vote, calling it “a historic vote,” and “the Senate has turned a new page on women’s human rights.”
The Macron government wants to include in Article 34 of the Constitution that ‘the conditions under which women can exercise their freedom to voluntarily terminate pregnancy are established by law and are guaranteed.’
France has legally allowed abortion since 1975, and it was President Macron’s pledge to specify this in the constitution.
The French National Assembly also promoted this in 2022, but the bill was scrapped due to differences in opinion between the Senate and House of Representatives.
At the time, the House of Representatives passed a bill guaranteeing the ‘right’ to abortion, while the Senate wanted to grant only the ‘freedom’ to abortion. To amend the constitution, both houses must approve the same text. Accordingly, the Macron government began legal proceedings again under the term ‘guarantee of abortion freedom’, an arbitration proposal.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.