France enshrines abortion as constitutional right in world first

The French parliament on Monday voted to anchor the right to abortion in the constitution, making France the first country in the world to offer explicit protection for terminating a pregnancy in its basic law.

A congress of both houses of parliament, gathered in a special chamber at the Palace of Versailles, easily found the three-fifths supermajority needed for the change, with 780 lawmakers in favour and 72 voting against.

Deputies applauded the change with cheers and a standing ovation.

President Emmanuel Macron described the move as "French pride" that had sent a "universal message", and a special public ceremony is planned to celebrate the move in Paris on International Women's Day on March 8.

The Eiffel Tower was lit up in celebration after the change was passed with slogans including "My Body My Choice" flashing on the edifice.

"This is a fundamental step... A step that will go down in history," Prime Minister Gabriel Attal told the lawmakers as he urged them to pass the legislation.

He said they owed "a moral debt" toward all women who had suffered before the legalisation of abortion.

But Attal said the right to abort remained "in danger" worldwide, with our "freedoms in essence threatened... at the mercy of decision makers".

"In one generation, one year, one week, you can go from one thing to the opposite," he said, referring to rights reversals in the United States, Hungary and Poland.

Such joint parliamentary sessions are rare in France and called only for momentous occasions such as constitutional changes, the last of which was made in 2008.

 'Hope and solidarity' 

Macron pledged last year to enshrine abortion — legal in France since 1975 — in the...