France lawmakers, on Monday, approved the bill to make abortion a constitutional right for women in the country.
The bill was approved in an overwhelming 780-72 vote by the parliamentarian and nearly the entire joint session stood in a long-standing ovation.
The move makes France the first country in the world to offer explicit protection for terminating a pregnancy in its basic law.
President Emmanuel Macron has been pushing for the enshrining of abortion as a women’s right in the French constitution.
Macron said the new amendment will now allow “the law to determine the conditions by which is exercised the freedom of women to have recourse to an abortion, which is guaranteed.”
After the voting, the Macron was said to have invited members of the French parliament for a special meeting at the palace of Versailles in Paris.
The bill had received massive support from the lower house of the parliament of France’s National Assembly in January.
On February 1, some French protesters demonstrated in support of abortion rights during a debate on the draft law on the constitution at the senate in Paris, France’s capital.
According to British Broadcasting Corporation, about 85 percent of French are in support of the bill despite stern disapproval by right-wingers in the parliament.
Discussions on the constitutional review of abortion rights in France were prompted after the United States Supreme Court removed the right to abortion in 2022.
Many people have criticised the relevance of the bill, arguing that it is not a constitutional matter.
Gabriel Attal, French prime minister, speaking on the bill, said women’s right to abortion has been “in danger and at the mercy of decision makers.
“I am telling women, within our borders and beyond, the era of a world of hope is starting.”
The constitutional amendment makes it the 25th review of the document by the parliament.
Both houses of Parliament, the National Assembly and the Senate, have already adopted a bill to amend Article 34 of the constitution to specify a woman’s right to an abortion is guaranteed.
“France is at the forefront,” the head of the lower house of Parliament, Yael Braun-Pivet, said as she opened the joint meeting.
“I’m proud of this Congress, which will say that the right to get an abortion will now be part of our basic law,” she said.
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal had earlier said: “We’re sending a message to all women: your body belongs to you and no one can decide for you.”
