France become first country to enshrine abortion rights in its constitution

France has become the first country in the world to enshrine abortion rights in its constitution. French lawmakers from both houses of the Parliament, in a special session, voted 780 to 72 in favor of the move to amend the Constitution.

The amendment states that there is a guaranteed freedom to abortion in France.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the government would hold a formal ceremony celebrating the amendment’s passage on Friday, International Women’s Rights Day.

France has a long history of supporting abortion rights. The voluntary ending of pregnancy became legal in France in 1975 with a law named after Simone Veil, the health minister who supported it. The law allowed abortion up to the tenth week of pregnancy. Later, it was extended to the twelfth week in 2001 and then to the fourteenth week in 2022. Since the 1980s, the procedure has been covered by France’s national healthcare system.