French lawmakers are expected Monday to anchor the right to abortion in the country’s constitution, in a global first that has garnered overwhelming public support. If Congress approves the move, France will become the only country in the world to clearly protect the right to terminate a pregnancy in its basic law. President Emmanuel Macron pledged last year to include enshrine abortion — legal in France since 1975 — in the constitution after the US Supreme Court in 2022 overturned the half-century-old right to the procedure, allowing states to ban or curtail it. France’s lower-house National Assembly in January overwhelmingly approved making abortion a “guaranteed freedom” in the constitution, followed by the Senate on Wednesday. Few expect any difficulty finding the needed supermajority after the three-fifths mark was largely exceeded in both previous ballots.

Source: Nigerian Tribune March 04, 2024 10:47 UTC