The House of Lords voted 267 to 50 in favor of the constitutional amendment
Paris:
France’s Senate on Wednesday backed the government’s move to enshrine the “freedom” of abortion in the constitution, which will now be put to a vote at an extraordinary congress.
French President Emmanuel Macron pledged last year to enshrine the right to terminate a pregnancy, which has been legal in France since 1974, into the constitution after the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 overturned a half-century-old Historical right to terminate pregnancy, allowing states to ban or reduce abortion.
Despite opposition from some conservative MPs, the House of Lords supported the constitutional amendment by a vote of 267 to 50.
In January, the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, voted overwhelmingly in favor of making abortion a “guaranteed freedom”, with nearly all members of Macron’s centrist minority coalition and left-wing opposition parties approving the bill.
Macron said he would convene a special session of the House of Representatives and the Senate on Monday at the Palace of Versailles for a final vote. Macron welcomed the Senate’s announcement on X (formerly Twitter), which he called a “decisive step”.
Justice Minister Eric Dupont-Moretti said France was about to usher in a “historic day” when it would become “the first country in the world to constitutionally protect women’s freedom to decide on their own physical condition”.
The plan faced some opposition from right-wing senators, with the government opting for the “guaranteed freedoms” language as an apparent compromise between the two chambers.
The House of Commons approved the “right” to abortion in 2022, while the Senate last year favored increased “freedom” to resort to the procedure.
However, ahead of a full vote, a Senate committee on Wednesday rejected a right-wing motion to amend the text of the proposed amendment.
Several right-wing senators privately said they felt pressure to approve the change.
“If I vote no, my daughters will no longer come for Christmas,” said one female senator who requested anonymity.
A November 2022 survey by French polling company IFOP found that 86% of French people support making abortion a constitutional right.
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