President Emmanuel Macron on Friday, March 8 said he wanted to enshrine abortion access not just in France's Constitution but also in the European Union's basic law.
In Europe, "nothing is set in stone any longer and everything has to be defended," he said at a ceremony to mark France becoming the first country to explicitly protect abortion in its Constitution. "This is why I wish for this guaranteed freedom to resort to an abortion to be inscribed in the European Union's Charter of Fundamental Rights."
Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti used a 100-kilogram press from 1810 to imprint the amendment in France's 1958 Constitution at a special public ceremony. Applause filled the cobblestoned Place Vendome as France became the first country to explicitly guarantee abortion access in its national charter. The measure was overwhelmingly approved by French lawmakers earlier this week, and Friday's ceremony means it can now enter into force.
Macron's critics questioned why he pursued the measure in a country with no obvious threat to abortion rights but where women face a multitude of other problems. While some French women saw the step as a major win, others said that in reality not every French woman has access to abortion. The ceremony comes on International Women's Day, a year to the day the president promised to constitutionalize abortion.