France enshrines 'freedom' to abortion in Constitution, in world first

A joint session of Parliament voted to adopt a constitutional reform to protect the 'freedom of women to voluntarily terminate a pregnancy, which is guaranteed.' The move was designed as a response to the US Supreme Court overturning the federal right to abortion in 2022.

France's Parliament approved a bill to enshrine a woman's right to an abortion in the Constitution in a historic vote on Monday, March 4, as lawmakers gathered for a joint session of Parliament at the Palace of Versailles. The bill was approved in an overwhelming 780-72 vote, and nearly the entire joint session stood in a long standing ovation.

The constitutional reform amends Article 34 of the French Constitution to specify that "the law determines the conditions by which is exercised the freedom of women to voluntarily terminate a pregnancy, which is guaranteed."