France This Monday I lived a “historic” day with the inclusion of a guarantee abortion in his Constitution, the first country in the world to provide itself with such guarantees to protect against interruption pregnancy.

“Historic”, “victory”, “pride” – these are some of the adjectives used by the vast majority of leaders of political groups at the extraordinary session Congress belonging Parliament, who collected Palace of Versailles To national assembly and to Senate officially approve the constitutional reform.

In the end, 780 parliamentarians voted in favor of the constitutional reform and only 72 voted against, significantly exceeding the three-fifths required for the first amendment to the law. Magna Carta since 2008.

The approved change includes language in Article 34 that the French Constitution will state that “the law will determine the manner in which the guaranteed freedom of women to have voluntary termination of pregnancy is recognized.”

“Their bodies belong to them, and no one can dispose of it for them,” declared Prime Minister Gabriel Attal in the speech that opened the session.

Absent from Congress due to the President’s inability to influence the Legislature. Emmanuel Macron reacted via social network Xwhere he expressed “French pride” and the “universal message” the country sends.

He also announced that he will unveil the law next Friday, coinciding with International Women’s Rights Day, and will do so for the first time at a public ceremony to be held in front of Parliament. Ministry of Justice.

Involution in the USA and possibly Argentina

Macron decided to start this constitutional reform after US Supreme Court In June 2022, it repealed federal recognition of abortion rights, leaving authorization in the hands of each state.

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For this reason, many speeches this Monday pointed to this court decision, as well as other restrictions on abortion that have already been approved or planned, as in Poland, Hungary or in Argentina president Javier Miley, as a reminder that rights can be lost.

“There is a risk of regression,” summed up left-leaning MP Elsa Faucillon.

The discordant note was set by far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who in her statement upon arrival at the Palace of Versailles assured that the danger of abortion “does not exist.”

“We are going to vote for this constitutionalization because it does not pose any problems for us, but from there we cannot talk about a historic day. “This is the day that Emmanuel Macron used for his glory,” said the leader of the second largest group in National Assembly.

The congressional meeting and vote, the first on constitutional reform in nearly 16 years, was filled with symbolic elements.

This was the first President of the Assembly headed by a woman. Yael Brown-Pivet and this happened almost fifty years after the adoption of the abortion law, named after the then Minister of Health, Simone Weil.

Indeed, the Prime Minister arrived at Versailles accompanied by Veil’s son, Jean, who attended the meeting as a guest, at which applause was heard in honor of the politician of his mother, who, after surviving, Auschwitz She was a minister several times and even presided over European Parliament.

MPs and senators were also aware that they were experiencing a special moment, since the previous session of this kind on constitutional reform dates back to 2008, and many took “selfies” upon entering the huge “Noon Wing” of the gigantic Palace of Versailles.

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Capable of accommodating 1,500 people and having already experienced many historical moments, this hall was chosen because the chambers were not large enough to accommodate 577 deputies and 348 senators.

The debates and voting at Versailles were watched from a huge screen installed in Versailles. square Trocadero, Before Eiffel Tower, which was illuminated in the Parisian night with the words “mon corps, mon choix” (“my body, my decision”).

At the end of the session, a group of women from feminist organizations in the guest gallery performed “Debout les femmes,” an anthem of the feminist struggle of the 70s.

A guarantee of abortion in a national constitution has only one historical precedent – in 1974 in the former Yugoslavia, although this guarantee was abolished with the collapse of that country.

(EFE)