Palace of Versailles:

France on Monday added abortion rights to its constitution, a historic first in the world that has been welcomed by women’s rights groups but harshly criticized by anti-abortion groups.

MPs and senators voted overwhelmingly in favor of the move, 780 to 72, in a special joint vote between the two houses of parliament under the gilded ceiling of the Palace of Versailles outside Paris.

Abortion rights activists gathered in central Paris cheered as the Eiffel Tower flashed in the background and the message “MyBodyMyChoice” was displayed on a large screen as the results of the vote were announced.

Abortion rights are more widely accepted in France than in the United States and many other countries, with polls showing that about 80% of French people support legal abortion.

“We have a message for all women: your body belongs to you and no one can make decisions for you,” Prime Minister Gabriel Attar told lawmakers before the vote.

French women have had a legal right to abortion since the law was enacted in 1974, but the law was harshly criticized by many at the time.

But the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn the Roe v. Wade ruling that recognized a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion has prompted activists to push for France to become the first country to explicitly protect that right in its basic law.

“This (abortion) right has receded in the United States. So we don’t have any reason to think that France is immune to this risk,” said Laura Slimani of the foundation, a women’s rights group.

“Being a women’s rights activist, and being a woman, there are a lot of emotions,” Slimani said.

Monday’s vote enshrines Article 34 of the French constitution, which states that “the law establishes the conditions under which women have guaranteed freedom to have an abortion.”

“France is in the lead,” said lower house speaker Jaël Braun-Pivet, a centrist party led by French President Emmanuel Macron.

abortion rights

But the move has not been immune to criticism.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen said Macron was using it to score political points because of the country’s strong support for abortion rights.

“We will vote to include it in the constitution because we have no problem with it,” Le Pen told reporters ahead of the vote in Versailles. She added that calling it a historic step was a bit of an exaggeration because “no one” was putting France abortion rights are at risk.”

Pascal Molinier, president of the Catholic Family Association, called the move a failure for anti-abortion activists.

“It’s a failure for women as well,” she said, “and certainly for all the children who won’t get to see this day.”

Molinier said there was no need to enshrine abortion rights in the constitution.

“We introduced a non-French debate because the United States was the first to remove it from the law by repealing Roe v. Wade,” she said. “The feminist movement had the effect of panic, and they wanted to engrave that on the marble of the Constitution.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)