(MENAFN) On Thursday, the National Assembly, the lower house of the French parliament, voted to include abortion rights in the country's constitution.
French women have had the right to deliberately terminate their pregnancies since 1974, but parliamentarians are concerned that access to abortion may be restricted in the future, particularly in light of new restrictions imposed in several US states and EU nations.
The plan, which must now be approved by the conservative-dominated Senate, would change the constitution to “guarantee the effectiveness and equal access to the right of the voluntary interruption of a pregnancy.”
“Our country is speaking to the world,” Mathilde Panot, an MP from the left-wing La France Insoumise (France Unbowed) party, stated, remarking that the measure was needed to “prevent the regression” of women’s rights.
“We don’t want to give any chance to people hostile to abortion and contraception rights,” she added. Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti also supported the move, asserting it was “more than necessary in these turbulent times.”
Last Monday, Marine Le Pen, the leader of the right-wing National Rally party, questioned the bill's necessity.
“We are not in the United States. No political party in France is calling for the abolition of [abortion] rights. I don’t really understand what danger this request for an amendment is supposed to address,” she highlighted.
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