This was a vote that had very little dissent; it easily surpassed the supermajority that was required to amend the constitution.<p>There was only one major group that spoke out against the decision: the Catholic Church.<p>Almost half of the French population reported that they were Catholic in a 2020 survey, but it's clear that when it comes to abortion, almost no French Catholics are influenced by the Church's strong opposition to abortion.<p>That's in stark contrast to the US, where opposition to abortion, mostly among Christian denominations, has remained an intractable issue. People predicted that after Roe V. Wade was decided, opposition to abortion would fade away, but it never did. Indeed, for the better part of 50 years, opposition fluctuated only a few percentage points, unlike almost every other major social issue.
My understanding is that French abortion protections are somewhat more conservative than those of Kansas, which for instance has a 21 week cutoff versus France's 14, and requires no additional consults or cooling off period.
Without giving a position on the legitimacy of this question, I nevertheless point out to foreign observers that this, above all, shows to what extent France now assumes its colony status.<p>We are in the greatest demographic, energy and financial crisis since the Second World War and on the verge of armed conflict with Russia.
Our legislators have repeatedly refused to have a say on these issues in recent months, but while we had no problem with the status of abortion in France, they took up the issue as soon as there was a problem about it in the USA.<p>As they say at the UN and the European Commission: "always put a Frenchman at the head of all international institutions, they are the only ones who will never defend the interests of their country".
France amending its 66-year old Constitution to include abortion is a “world first.” Few Europeans would assert that their constitutions <i>already guaranteed</i> such a right before those country’s regulated abortion under civil law. The ECHR has repeatedly declined invitations to find such a right in the EU Declaration of Human Rights. Meanwhile, many in America denounce the Supreme Court for observing that our 235 year old constitution isn’t any different from those (often much younger) European constitutions in that respect.
The article is actually missing the point slightly.<p>The French right wing of the senate has made this seemingly unimportant edit: it's not a right to abortion, it's a freedom.<p>This changes everything.<p>If it's a freedom, the job of the government is to ensure that nobody can stop you from doing it, but unlike with a right, it has no obligation of means, it doesn't have to fund free abortion clinics, make sure that hospitals are properly staffed, that every woman on the French territory has actually access to a clinic without travelling long distances or paying an unaffordable price.
GOOD. There shouldn't even be a question about this. I have family members who would have died if the current state of abortion bullshit in the US had been a thing.<p>All these fucks voting out protections THEY ENJOYED their entire reproductive lives is so damn infuriating.
Why not, but abortion in France wasn't threatened in any way. It seems to me like a marketing coup from far-left parties who are utterly powerless when it comes to economic policies.<p>Also I'm not sure what's the extent of this right. In France, AFIU in normal circumstances, you can't legally abort after 14 weeks. Is that challenged by this new constitutional rule?<p>EDIT: even though Macron ultimately proposed this, it was initiated by a far-left representative, Mathilde Panot. Her party, LFI, advertises this as their own victory.<p><a href="https://www.lepoint.fr/societe/ivg-dans-la-constitution-mathilde-panot-erigee-en-heritiere-de-simone-veil-par-les-insoumis-05-03-2024-2554229_23.php#11" rel="nofollow">https://www.lepoint.fr/societe/ivg-dans-la-constitution-math...</a><p>> Mathilde Panot, présidente du groupe La France insoumise à l'Assemblée nationale, a été à l'initiative de la proposition de loi constitutionnelle pour garantir le droit à l'IVG.