Macron promises to include women's abortion rights in the French Constitution by 2024

On Sunday, President Emmanuel Macron pledged to incorporate the right of women to an abortion into the French Constitution by the following year.

In order to ensure that “the freedom of women to have an abortion will be irreversible in 2024,” the president stated on X, formerly Twitter, that a bill enabling this would be presented to his Cabinet by the end of this year.

Although a 1975 law decriminalized abortion in France, abortion rights are not guaranteed by the constitution.

The French government's decision to unconditionally guarantee women's rights to an abortion was prompted by the U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of a 50-year-old ruling last year, which resulted in a rollback of abortion rights in the United States.

According to Macron's office, "the law determines the conditions by which is exercised the freedom of women to have recourse to an abortion, which is guaranteed" would be added to Article 34 of the constitution.

The minister for gender equality, Berengere Couillard, stated on X that she anticipated the process would end, noting that "this is a victory for all women and a strong symbol sent to other countries of the world where our rights are losing ground."