During a joint session of Parliament at the Palace of Versailles, French parliamentarians passed a bill that will codify the right to an abortion in the country's Constitution.
On Monday, the bill was passed by a resounding 780–72 majority, and almost the whole joint session broke out into prolonged applause.
Following a restriction of abortion rights in US court rulings, women's rights campaigners celebrated the measure that President Emmanuel Macron had promised across the nation.
With this move, France becomes the first nation in the world whose fundamental legislation explicitly protects pregnancy termination.
A bill to alter Article 34 of the constitution to clarify that a woman's right to an abortion is guaranteed has already been approved by the National Assembly and the Senate, both houses of Parliament.
Yael Braun-Pivet, the leader of the lower house of parliament, declared at the start of the joint meeting that "France is at the forefront."
"This Congress, which will declare that the right to an abortion will now be a part of our fundamental law, makes me proud," she remarked.
"We're sending a message to all women: your body belongs to you and no one can decide for you," stated Prime Minister Gabriel Attal earlier.
After the US Supreme Court decided in 2022 to overturn the Roe v Wade decision, which protected women's access to abortions, activists in France pushed for the country to enshrine the right in its constitution.
The French legislation's introduction states, "Unfortunately, this event is not isolated: in many countries, even in Europe, there are currents of opinion that seek to hinder at all costs the freedom of women to terminate their pregnancy if they wish."
Criticism
Leaders of the far-right, such as Marine Le Pen, and anti-abortion organizations also criticized the vote.
Macron, according to Le Pen, was using the law to further his political agenda.
"We have no issue with that, so we will vote to include it in the constitution," Le Pen declared.
However, she claimed that calling it a historic milestone was overstated because "no one is putting the right to abortion at risk in France."
Pascale Moriniere, president of the Association of Catholic Families, said the vote was a result of “panic”.
“We imported a debate that is not French since the United States was first to remove that from the law with the repeal of Roe v Wade,” she said. “There was an effect of panic from feminist movements, which wished to engrave this on the marble of the constitution.”
Women have had the legal right to abortion in France since 1974.