France makes history, becomes first country to enshrine Right to Abortion in constitution

Earlier on January 30, France’s National Assembly approved the bill meant to enshrine a woman’s right to an abortion in the French Constitution, which was considered the first step in the legislative process and which also received overwhelming backing from the Senate.

On Monday, a total of 925 members of the National Assembly from the upper and lower chambers, along with the Senate, embarked on a journey to Versailles to vote on amending Article 34 of the Constitution to "guarantee the freedom of women to have access to an abortion."

According to the Global History Dialogues, in 1920, a law that criminalised abortion and contraception was passed. Both were considered an outrage to life and an insult to morality and since the Catholics were the majority in the population at the time, the doctrine of the Church and this consideration of life as something sacred was part of a commonly shared moral.

During the World War Two era, abortion was considered nothing less than a 'Crime against the state, punishable by the death penalty.'

With more aggressive movements and campaigns, significant success was achieved in accessing free and legal abortion in many European countries when the taboo of abortion started to be broken but was still not enormously publicised.

In 1971, in Paris, street demonstrations were organised by the MLF (Mouvement de libération des femmes). This public demonstration was relayed by the media and very publicised. Many street demonstrations took place in the years that followed, everywhere in France.

November 13, 1974: Simone Veil, who was at the time Minister of Health presented a law to the assembly legalising abortion in France despite fierce opposition by many lawmakers.

January 27, 1993: France passed a very important law, called the Neiertz Law, which decriminalised self-abortion and created the offence of obstructing the termination of pregnancy. It aimed at repressing and prohibiting groups that take action to prevent abortions.

July 4, 2001: A law was passed on contraception and abortion, which increased the time to carry out an abortion to 14 weeks of amenorrhea.

2004: Private practitioners were allowed to perform medical abortions

2013: Abortion becomes free and fully funded by the French government.

2016: Midwives authorised to practice medical abortions under the exact same conditions as doctors.

2023: French President Emmanuel Macron says his government plans to enshrine abortion rights in the constitution to make them "irreversible," according to Le Monde.

Constitutional revision in France requires either a referendum or approval by at least three-fifths of the members of both chambers of parliament united in a congress. Most constitutional changes in post-war France have been approved by a Congressional vote. President Macron lacks a majority in the National Assembly and bringing reforms into law is a difficult task for him.

A constitutional amendment must pass both chambers of parliament and then be approved either in a referendum or by a three-fifths majority of a joint session of parliament.

Macron is aiming for the second method, though the measure’s level of support in the Senate is less certain than in the National Assembly.

The French government wants Article 34 of France’s constitution amended to include that "the law determines the conditions by which is exercised the freedom of women to have recourse to an abortion, which is guaranteed."

The government argued in its introduction to the bill that the right to abortion is threatened in the United States, where the Supreme Court in 2022 overturned a 50-year-old ruling that had guaranteed the right to an abortion.

Unfortunately, this event is not isolated; in many countries, even in Europe, there are currents of opinion that seek to hinder at any cost the freedom of women to terminate their pregnancy if they wish,” the introduction to the French legislation says.

As per the AFP, Cuba's constitution guarantees women's "reproductive and sexual rights."

Several Balkan states have inherited versions of former Yugoslavia's 1974 constitution that said it was a human right to "decide on the birth of children."

In Kenya, for example, the constitution says "abortion is not permitted unless, in the opinion of a trained health professional, there is need for emergency treatment, or the life or health of the mother is in danger, or if permitted by any other written law."

India's Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act allows abortion up to 24 weeks, after which termination is permitted only if a board of doctors attests that continued pregnancy presents a risk to the woman’s life or if there are foetal abnormalities.