"The law determines the conditions by which is exercised the freedom of women to voluntarily terminate a pregnancy, which is guaranteed": Article 34 of the French Constitution now includes this section. With 780 votes for and 72 against, French lawmakers, gathered for a joint session of Parliament in Versailles on Monday, March 4, largely met the requirement of three-fifths of votes cast necessary for the adoption of any constitutional revision.

When the results were announced by the session's president, Yaël Braun-Pivet, the lawmakers' elation was befitting of the historic and symbolic significance of such a vote. "French pride, universal message," applauded President Emmanuel Macron on X, shortly after the vote. France became the first country in the world to formally enshrine abortion in its Constitution.

This vote is the culmination of an 18-month parliamentary process during which many elected representatives, acting as advocates for feminist associations, intensified their commitments to defend women's freedom to control their own bodies by protecting it in the country's fundamental law. Moreover, for the first time in history, a woman – in this case, Braun-Pivet, the president of the Assemblée Nationale – presided over a joint session of Parliament, which took place 49 years after the vote on the Veil Law that decriminalized abortion. Braun-Pivet was quick to point this out, addressing "the women of the world": "We are saying that we will support them and that we will always be at their side."

In the Salle du Congrès, the atmosphere was solemn as the session began at 3:30 pm. The lawmakers were seated in alphabetical order rather than by their political group affiliation, in keeping with the theme of national harmony embodied by the meeting of this assembly. In a speech of about 10 minutes, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal recalled the careers of lawyer Gisèle Halimi and Simone Veil and their fight to legalize abortion, before proclaiming his "determination" to "act for the cause of equality."

A majority of the government, as well as ministerial and parliamentary staff, flocked to watch the speeches from the podium. Even more noteworthy was the presence of representatives of women's rights associations and feminist activists in the central public galleries – such as Sarah Durocher, the president of the French Planned Parenthood Movement (MPPF), to whom most of the speakers from the various parliamentary groups paid tribute.

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