In an emotional ceremony marking the enshrining of the right to an abortion in the French constitution, Emmanuel Macron said the historic change was the sealing of a long battle for “freedom, a fight made up of tears, tragedies and broken destinies”.
He said the occasion was a reminder of “the fate of generations of women deprived of the most intimate of choices: whether or not to have a child”.
“The destiny of these women, their suffering, their fear, the addresses exchanged under the cloak, of clandestine operations, of stifled cries, of impossible recoveries, of secrecy, of suspicions, of sermons, of the risk of losing everything, one’s happiness and one’s life,” he added.
“Yes, for too many years, women’s destinies were sealed by others. Their lives captured, their freedom scorned.”
The historic amendment was marked by an official sealing of the constitution using a 19th-century press that was installed outside the justice ministry in central Paris so the ceremony could be seen by the public.
There was applause among the crowd of dignitaries, politicians and celebrities as well as the public, as the justice minister, Éric Dupond-Moretti, flanked by Macron and the prime minister, Gabriel Attal, turned the 300kg manual press to stamp the amendment.
In his address, Macron said he wanted the measure inscribed in the EU charter of fundamental rights and that it should become a universal right.
“Today’s not the end of the story, it’s the beginning of a combat. If France has become the only country in the world whose constitution explicitly protects the right to an abortion in all circumstances, we will not rest until this promise is kept throughout the world. We will wage this battle on our continent, in our Europe, where reactionary forces first and always attack women’s rights, before going on to attack the rights of minorities, of all the oppressed, of all freedoms,” he warned.
On International Women’s Day, Macron chose to express the country’s recognition of 10 women, including Olympe de Gouges, a social reformer who wrote the “declaration of the rights of women and female citizens” in 1791; Simone Veil, a former health minister who introduced a 1975 law legalising abortion in France; and the singer and actor Josephine Baker.
MPs and senators who make up the French parliament voted to enshrine abortion as a constitutional right at a joint session at the Palace of Versailles on Monday. Of the 925 parliamentarians eligible to vote, 780 supported the amendment that gives women the “guaranteed freedom” to choose an abortion.
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The measure had already been passed by the upper and lower houses, the Sénat and the Assemblée Nationale, but final approval by parliamentarians at the joint session at Versailles was needed to effect constitutional change.
The law will come into force on Saturday, when it is published in the Official Journal.
