Macron Pledges to Enshrine ‘Freedom of Abortion’ in French Constitution
Emmanuel Macron has vowed to alter the French constitution to enshrine in it the “freedom of abortion” by next year.
Macron said that his government will submit a draft text of the changes to France’s highest administrative court over the next week.
“Based on the work of parliamentarians and associations, the draft constitutional law will be sent to the Council of State this week and presented to the Council of Ministers by the end of the year,” Macron said in French in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, according to a machine translation.
Fondé sur le travail des parlementaires et des associations, le projet de loi constitutionnelle sera envoyé au Conseil d’État cette semaine et présenté en Conseil des ministres d’ici la fin de l’année.
En 2024, la liberté des femmes de recourir à l’IVG sera irréversible. https://t.co/4uSoIJu310
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) October 29, 2023
“In 2024, women’s freedom to have an abortion will be irreversible,” the post concluded.
The Guardian reports, “The announcement follows a promise made by Macron on 8 March, International Women’s Day, when he tweeted in response to the overturning of federal abortion rights in the US last year: ‘A universal message of solidarity to all women who today see this right violated: France will engrave in its Constitution the freedom of women to have recourse to abortion.’”
“The resolution was overwhelmingly backed in the national assembly last November before being passed in the senate in February, despite opposition from rightwing parties, which argued that France’s abortion rights were not at risk,” the report added.
Changes to the French constitution require either a referendum or a three-fifths vote in both houses of parliament.
“To avoid a referendum, the government presented its own bill, rather than one originating among lawmakers, meaning Macron can convene a special congress of both houses. Such congresses meet at the Palace of Versailles,” the Guardian explains.
Abortion has been legal in France since 1975.
