French government supports bill enshrining abortion rights in constitution
- France was one of several US allies to condemn America’s decision to revoke the country’s recent nationwide legal protection for abortion
- Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said the French government would support the bill ‘wholeheartedly’, echoing the support expressed by other ministers
Politicians representing a parliamentary majority on Saturday voiced support for a bill enshrining abortion rights in France’s constitution, after the US Supreme Court revoked the nationwide legal protection for American women to terminate pregnancies.
The landmark ruling by the conservative-majority court on Friday overturned almost five decades of constitutional protections for abortion in the United States, allowing individual states to regulate the procedure.
The American religious right had never accepted the previous 1973 “Roe v Wade” ruling that guaranteed US abortion rights and several conservative states immediately announced they would ban abortion.
France was one of several US allies to condemn the decision, with President Emmanuel Macron denouncing a threat to women’s freedom.
The leader of Macron’s party in parliament on Saturday said she had prepared a bill to “enshrine the respect for abortion in our constitution” amid the rise of the far-right National Rally, a party she described as “fierce opponents” of abortion.
“Women’s rights are always fragile rights that are regularly threatened,” Aurore Berge told the France Inter radio station.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said the government would support the bill “wholeheartedly”, echoing the support expressed by other ministers.
“For all women, for human rights, we must set this gain in stone. Parliament must be able to unite overwhelmingly over this text,” she wrote on Twitter.
