France on Monday became the first country to explicitly enshrine the right to voluntary termination of pregnancy (abortion) in its constitution, to the disappointment of the Vatican and in contrast to a number of countries where the right is restricted, AFP reported.

780 parliamentarians approved the introduction of the following sentence into Article 34 of the Basic Law: “The law establishes the conditions under which a woman’s guaranteed freedom to resort to voluntary termination of pregnancy is realized.”

Only 72 deputies voted against. This historic vote was received by the audience with applause.

“The pride of France, a universal message,” hailed President Emmanuel Macron on Monday after Congress voted to include abortion in the Constitution, whose ratification ceremony scheduled for Friday will be open to the public for the first time.

“Let’s celebrate together the new freedom guaranteed by the Constitution with the first sealing ceremony in our history open to the public. See you on March 8, International Women’s Day,” wrote Emmanuel Macron in a message published on X.

According to several polls, supported by more than 80% of the French population, the inclusion of abortion in the constitution is gradually making its way into the political arena. Even the right and far-right, who have traditionally opposed the idea or been skeptical of the government’s chosen wording, ended up overwhelmingly voting for the reform, despite some reluctance.

The Senate vote on Feb. 28, long seen as the main hurdle for the bill, was a surprisingly overwhelming majority in favor of the bill.

“We need to include a provision in our Constitution to better protect women, to make sure no one touches abortion,” Justice Minister Eric Dupont-Moretti said Sunday.

Abortions have been legalized in France since 1975

Abortion was legalized in France in 1975, four years after a shocking appeal in which 343 women, including actresses Jeanne Moreau and Catherine Deneuve and writers Simone de Beauvoir, Marguerite Duras and Françoise Sagan, said they had had an abortion.

A tireless campaigner for the constitutionalization of abortion, Planned Parenthood has previously hailed the “message of hope” that Congress will send to “feminists around the world.”

“Because in France and around the world the right to abortion is still under serious threat,” the Women’s Rights Association stressed, especially regarding sexuality and contraception.

The United States is going in the opposite direction

That this right is on the wane in other parts of the world was vividly demonstrated in June 2022, when the United States overturned Roe vs. Wade, which protected access to abortion at the federal level.

Since then, numerous US states have severely restricted or even banned abortions on their territory, forcing thousands of American women to make difficult and expensive trips to obtain an abortion.

This decision on the other side of the Atlantic had a shock effect on public opinion and French elected officials, leading to the first initiatives in the same year, initially pushed by the radical left.

In March 2023, Emmanuel Macron announced his intention to enshrine the “freedom” of abortion in the Constitution.

Few voices against the project have been heard in recent days. The French bishops’ conference expressed its “sadness” at the idea, while far-right Marion Maréchal, head of the party list Reconquête! in the elections to the European Parliament, ironically criticized the initiative, saying that it was a “legal trick”.