Abortion Now Officially A Constitutional Right In France
Hourra pour le droit à l’avortement!
On Monday, France became the first country in the world to enshrine the right to abortion in their constitution — and without too much opposition. The French Parliament voted 780-72 in favor of the amendment, which was supported by 85 percent of the country.
This is a particularly big deal considering the fact that some other countries have been backsliding on abortion rights in recent years, with the United States Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade — allowing states to ban abortion, you may have heard about it — and Poland banning abortion entirely in 2020, with scant few exceptions.
Via BBC:
President Emmanuel Macron described the move as "French pride" that had sent a "universal message". […]
It becomes the 25th amendment to modern France's founding document, and the first since 2008.
Following the vote, the Eiffel Tower in Paris was lit up in celebration, with the message: "My Body My Choice".
Before the vote, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal told parliament that the right to abortion remained "in danger" and "at the mercy of decision makers".
"We're sending a message to all women: your body belongs to you and no one can decide for you," he added.
Truly, that is incredible. It must feel amazing to be a woman in France right now.
Une brève histoire du droit à l’avortement en France!
Abortion has been legal in France since the 1975 passing of the Veil Act. Previously, it had been a serious offense, and even a capital offense during the era of Vichy France, which considered it a a crime against state security, as France’s birth rates were lower than its neighbors. They had police units literally tracking down abortion providers (called faiseuses d'anges, or “angel makers”) and Marie-Louise Giraud was executed by guillotine in 1943 for performing 27 abortions.
In 1975, Simone Veil, the minister of health under President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, was inspired to push for decriminalization following the Bobigny trial, in which a young woman, Marie-Claire Chevalier, who sought an abortion at 16 after being raped by a classmate, as well as her mother and three other women were all charged with complicity or practice of an abortion. The rapist in the case actually reported Chevalier for having had an abortion after he raped her in order to get out of an unrelated charge of grand theft auto, which is … particularly galling.
Famously, Simone de Beauvoir — herself known to facilitate abortions — testified as a character witness for Chevalier.
“If they at least had the freedom to be mothers when they wanted to, how they wanted to, planning the births of children, it would leave them a lot of freedom on all levels. Women could present themselves as professional rivals to men. They would not be constantly chained to the house, and that would bring up the question of why it is not the men who do the dishes.
“In order to prevent this from happening, maternity must be imposed upon women, and imposed against their will.”
Chevalier was acquitted and the Veil Act was passed, making abortion legal up to 10 weeks.
Retour au présent!
Now, it’s true that “abortion for any reason” in France is only legal up until 14 weeks. The Right has tried to present this as some kind of big “gotcha.” I will admit, it’s not perfect.
Except here’s the thing — abortion in France is free, easily accessible and as long as two doctors sign off on an abortion being necessary for physical or psychological reasons, it is easy to get an abortion after that as well. Right now, as you may have noticed, abortions in many US states are banned not only if the health of the mother is in danger, and in fact her very life, but without exception for a baby who will die, painfully, within minutes of birth.
The French ease in accessing a doctor makes a huge difference; France has universal healthcare coverage through its statutory health insurance (SHI) system and it only costs €25 (about $27) to see a doctor there — so you’re not seeing the same situations we see in the United States where people have to put off getting an abortion or seeing a doctor because they have to wait for a paycheck. There are also just more doctors per capita and people can just see any doctor they want (for €25) rather than having to find one that is in their specific insurance network.
There are occasionally issues with people being able to find doctors who are willing to perform abortions, but not to the degree we see in Italy or Romania.
It’s also worth noting that France has been increasingly liberalizing its abortion laws over the last several years and just recently raised the threshold from 12 weeks to 14 weeks and eased access to medication abortion. It’s also definitely possible that, now that it is in the actual constitution, the threshold will increase.
Nothing is ever going to be perfect anywhere, but if people keep trying and keep working to improve things and pushing for change, they will get better. France has come from literally executing people by a freaking guillotine for performing abortions to enshrining the right to have one in their constitution in less than 100 years. Not to mention also banning the death penalty. That’s incredible, and they should be proud as hell.
It’s easy, sometimes, to see our country as beyond hope — and I will admit that, after seeing #MyBodyMyChoice on the Eiffel Tower and tearing up a little, I did look into whether or not my Italian citizenship would allow me to live in France — but if France can go from guillotines to this, then I’d like to think we still have a shot.
PREVIOUSLY:
Liberté, egalité, sororité!
I'm moving to France in two or three months depending on how quickly my house sells and how soon my visa is issued. The great healthcare is one of the main reasons along with the lower housing costs, the wine, the food, the art, the wine, the culture, the public transit and the wine.