French President Emmanuel Macron at Elysee Palace on February 19, 2024 in Paris, France. (hristian Liewig - Corbis/Getty Images)
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The French Senate passed a bill Wednesday constitutionally enshrining abortion rights, as reported by Le Monde. The bill is expected to receive final approval by a three-fifths majority of the country's parliament next week. The measure, promised by President Emmanuel Macron, comes partly in response to the 2022 rollback of abortion rights in the United States. The Senate vote was overwhelming, 267 to 50.
"The Sénat has taken a decisive step, which I applaud," Macron said, adding that he would convene Parliament in a joint session on March 4 for the final vote. "I pledged to make women's freedom to have recourse to abortion irreversible by enshrining it in the Constitution."
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Prime Minister Gabriel Attal — a leading contender to succeed Macron in the 2027 presidential election — told Le Monde that the inclusion of abortion in the Constitution is an "immense step forward," and that this day would mark "the political and parliamentary history of our country."
France decriminalized abortion in 1975. Even though there were 50 votes against the measure in the Senate, none of the country's major political parties currently represented in parliament have questioned the essential right to abortion.
"We're writing history," said Mathilde Panot, the parliamentary party leader of the radical-left La France Insoumise. "The last lock has been broken. France will become the first state in the world to guarantee the right to abortion."
