Senators to vote on enshrining abortion in French Constitution

2nd February 2023

French senators will vote this week on whether to inscribe a ‘right’ to abortion into France’s constitution, a move designed to bolster so-called ‘reproductive rights’ after the Roe v Wade ruling in the United States. France already allows abortion on widespread grounds under statute law and has done so since the 1970s. In 2020, there were more than 207,000 abortions in the country. There is one termination for every 3.5 births.

A large majority of MPs in France’s lower house voted in favour of the bill, which promises to “guarantee the effectiveness of and equal access to the right to voluntary termination of pregnancy”.

However, the bill still needs the approval of the right-leaning Senate, which rejected a similar proposition by a margin of 33 votes in October. In that instance, Republican senators argued that abortion was not under threat in France.

Now, if senators vote in favour of the proposition, it would either go to a referendum or be passed through “a constitutional bill” put forward by the government. This would require three fifths of a specially convened congress made up of members of both chambers to vote in favour of amending the constitution.

President Macron is coming under pressure from feminist groups to avoid a referendum.