On Monday, France became the first country to guarantee the “freedom” of abortion in its constitution.
Voluntary abortion has been legal in France since 1975 and is available until 14 weeks of pregnancy—but the bill amended Article 24 of the constitution to introduce a section that reads: “The law determines the conditions in which a woman has the guaranteed freedom to have recourse to an abortion.” It was approved by a 780-72 vote in a joint session of Parliament.
The discussion reportedly began in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. French President Emmanuel Macron said he would fight to prevent the same thing from happening in France.
Although many Parliament members and pro-abortion advocates applauded the passage of the amendment, and the hashtag “#MyBodyMyChoice” was projected onto the Eiffel Tower, pro-life advocates around the country opposed the decision.
“We imported a debate that is not French, since the United States was first to remove that from law with the repeal of Roe v. Wade,” said Pascale Moriniere, president of a French pro-life group. “There was an effect of panic from feminist movements, which wished to engrave this on the marble of the constitution.”
“I have the impression that we’re putting so much emphasis on women’s rights that we’re forgetting the right of the unborn child,” said Marjorie Legendre, seminary professor and member of Commission d’Éthique Protestante Évangelique (CEPE). “But who is the weakest in the story? Christians are called to defend the weakest.”
R. Albert Mohler Jr. said that the decision “is largely a publicity stunt by the nation’s elected leaders, but we must also recognize that the move represents a major milestone victory for the Culture of Death.
“Christians must realize that the move in France can only be explained by the nation’s radical secularization and the eclipse of the Biblical worldview,” he said.
