Celebrations, protests mark International Women’s Day
France guarantees right to abortion in its constitution
PARIS — 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 the public. Women in the crowd recalled their own abortions, or lifelong battles for reproductive rights.
While abortion is a deeply divisive issue in the United States, it’s legal in nearly all of Europe and 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. Mr. Macron said the move was prompted by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2022 rescinding long-held abortion rights.
Mr. 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.
Mr. 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-year-old public relations director Lunise Marquis, it was a “major milestone for women’s rights.”
“We are sending a message to the world,” she said.
France has a persistently high rate of women killed by their partners and challenges remain in prosecuting sexual abuse against women by powerful celebrities and other men. French women also see lower pay and pensions — especially women who are not white.
Mr. Macron’s government said the abortion amendment was important to avoid a U.S.-like scenario for women in France, as hard-right groups are gaining ground and seeking to turn back the clock on freedoms around Europe.
Justice Minister Eric DupondMoretti used a 220-pound press from 1810 to imprint the amendment in France’s 1958 Constitution.
France follows in the footsteps of the former Yugoslavia, whose 1974 constitution included the phrase: “A person is free to decide on having children.” Yugoslavia’s successor states retained similar language in their constitutions, though they did not spell out guaranteed abortion rights.
Not everyone saw the day as a cause for celebration, as angry protest marches were held in numerous countries.
The head of the Danish Trade Union Confederation, which has 1.3 million members, chafed at how differently women and men are treated in some areas.
“Unfortunately, we still see skyhigh pay differences, professions dominated by one sex, a gendersegregated labor market, harassment cases that primarily affect women and a wide range of other equality problems,” Morten Skov Christensen said.
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.