The French constitution will contain the right to abortion from next year, President Emmanuel Macron announced on Sunday, making France the first country to have such a right guaranteed by the constitution.
On International Women’s Day on 8 March, Macron vowed to enshrine the right to abortion in the Constitution “because women’s rights are always a precarious achievement”, he said, quoting famous Tunisian-French lawyer and feminist activist Gisèle Halimi.
On Sunday, Macron reiterated his plans and even gave a timeline, writing on X that “in 2024, women’s freedom to choose abortion will be irreversible”.
While the abortion debate crept back into France in June 2022, when the US Supreme Court gave states the power to ban or allow abortion, in the same month, 81% of French people agreed that “a woman’s right to choose abortion is now enshrined in the French constitution”, with 48% “very much in favour”, according to a poll conducted by IFOP at the time.
If France includes the right to abort a pregnancy in its constitution, it would be the first country in the world to do so, an advocacy officer at Planning Familial told Euractiv in January.
In November 2022, leader of the radical left party in the assembly Mathilde Panot pushed for her colleagues to agree on a Constitutional bill that read: “No one shall infringe upon the right to voluntary termination of pregnancy and contraception.”
Yet, in February 2023, the Senate suggested its Constitutional amendment reading: “The law determines the conditions under which a woman’s freedom to terminate her pregnancy is exercised”, thus removing the word “right”.
Euractiv understands that this is the Senate version will be presented next week. Panot described the announcement on X as “a victory for the associations, collectives and activists who are fighting to finally guarantee women’s right to control their bodies”.
Abortion: Misoprostol shortages are over in France, manufacturer says
Nordic Pharma, the sole manufacturer of abortion pill misoprostol, said that recent shortages of the drug in France are now resolved. However, associations warn that the situation could repeat itself if the company maintains its monopoly on the drug.
In the EU, meanwhile, all member states except Poland and Malta allow abortion on request, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights comparative overview updated in September.
Poland only allows abortion in cases of threat to the pregnant woman’s life or pregnancy due to sexual violence as it decided to remove foetus deformity as grounds to request for an abortion.
As for Malta, its parliament unanimously passed a bill in June allowing abortion in cases where the life of the pregnant woman is at significant risk.
According to the Center for Reproductive Rights, 41 in 47 European countries have legalised abortion on request, and the United Kingdom authorises it on broad social grounds.
Poland, Malta, Lichtenstein, Monaco and the Danish jurisdiction of the Faroe Islands are considered “highly restrictive” in terms of abortion rights, while Andorra remains the only European country with a total abortion ban.
Time for real progress: The right to abortion is not guaranteed in Europe
While national and European debates remain stuck in the details about appropriate gestational time limits or waiting periods, as well as the tug-of-war between progressive, centrist, and anti-gender forces, it is high time to embrace a vision and determination to guarantee reproductive justice for all, writes Julia Lux.
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Source: euractiv.com
