France seals abortion as constitutional right
France inscribed the guaranteed right to abortion in its constitution Friday, in a world first and a powerful message of support to women around the globe on International Women’s Day.
A woman from Argentina, a couple from Miami and a man from Czechia were among those gathered on the polished cobblestones of Place Vendome in Paris to watch the historic event unfurl in an outdoor ceremony open to the public. Women in the crowd recalled their own abortions, or lifelong battles for reproductive rights.
Abortion is overwhelmingly supported in France, where it’s seen more as a question of public health rather than politics. French legislators approved the constitutional amendment on Monday in a 780-72 vote that was backed by many far-right lawmakers.
The Paris event was a key moment on a day focused on advancing women’s rights globally. Marches, protests and conferences are being held from Jakarta, Indonesia, to Mexico City and beyond.
When the French justice minister used a 19th-century printing press to seal the amendment in France’s Constitution, cheers filled the plaza. It ensures “the freedom of women to have recourse to an abortion, which
is guaranteed.” “For too many years, women’s destinies were sealed by others,” President Emmanuel Macron said, calling Friday’s ceremony the culmination of a “long fight for freedom” for women to choose what to do with their bodies.
The French constitutional amendment has been hailed by women’s rights advocates around the world, including places where women struggle to
access birth control or maternal health care. Macron said the move was prompted by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2022 rescinding long-held abortion rights. Macron called for other countries to follow suit and proposed including the right to abortion in the European Union’s charter, drawing cheers from the crowd in Paris. However, such a move would likely meet stiff resistance from EU members
that have tight abortion restrictions, such as Poland.
Macron’s critics questioned why he pursued the measure in a country with no obvious threat to abortion rights but where women face a multitude of other problems. While some French women saw the step as a major win, others said that in reality not every French woman has access to abortion.
“It’s a smokescreen,” Arya
Meroni, 32, said of the event.
“The government is destroying our health-care system, many family planning clinics have closed,’’ she said at an annual “Feminist Night March” in Paris on the eve of International Women’s Day.
Still, for people like 44-yearold public relations director Lunise Marquis, it was a “major milestone for women’s rights.”
“We are sending a message to the world,” she said.
In other events Friday:
• In Ireland, voters are deciding whether to change the constitution to remove passages referring to women’s domestic duties and broadening the definition of the family.
• In Italy, where the country’s first female premier is in power, thousands of people marched in Rome to protest gender-based violence. The issue grabbed public attention after the gruesome murder of a young woman last November, which Italian President Sergio Mattarella said Friday “consumed all of Italy in horror and pain.” Data show more than half of the 120 women murdered in Italy last year were killed by their current or former partners.
• Women in Afghanistan staged rare protests against harsh Taliban restrictions.
• At street rallies in Seoul, participants had an eye on next month’s parliamentary elections in South Korea and expressed hope that parties would prioritize gender equality.