In a landmark case on Monday, Mar. 4, the French government enshrined the right to abortion within its constitution. This marked the first ever country in the world to do so, establishing a potential precedent for other countries to follow suit.

With over 900 lawmakers present in the Palace of Versailles, the landslide vote was dominated with a combined vote from both Parliament houses: a 780–72 vote. The National Assembly, housing 557 members, had a respective vote of 337–32. 

In order for any measure to be added into the French constitution, it requires a ⅗ majority in the joint session, and is then generally issued through a nationwide referendum for a final decision. 

President Macron was able to evade the referendum, as the bill presented did not originate from lawmakers as they traditionally would. Instead, he successfully convened a special congress of both Parliament houses, in which only the aforementioned ⅗ majority would be necessary.

Both major political parties of France demonstrated how easily the issue of abortion rights transcended bipartisan politics, with hardly any significant opposition from either the Republican or the National Rally Parties. 

National Rally Party leader Marine Le Pen declared her opposition to the leftist proposal, claiming that it would cause the time limit for terminating pregnancy to be extended. However, she ultimately ended up voting in favor of the measure.

“There is no need to make this a historic day,” Le Pen stated.

The impetus to ensure the full legal right to abortion was the overturning of American landmark case Roe v. Wade back in June 2022, where it was ruled that abortion was neither a right in due process nor was it “deeply rooted in this Nation’s history or tradition.”

French President Emmanuel Macron promised on X recently that by “inscribing it in the constitution… the freedom of women to have an abortion will be irreversible,” that the full right would become wholly recognized and legalized by this year. 

It is worth mentioning that following legislator and pro-abortion feminist Simone Veil’s work in a 1975 bill, abortion was in fact decriminalized throughout the nation of France. However, there was, until yesterday, nothing that explicitly protected the right to abortion.

Hopefully the landmark ruling presented this Monday will galvanize other countries, most especially the United States following its overturn, to act in similar ways, defending women’s rights within their national constitutions in order to guarantee what should inherently be a natural right.