Global anti-feminist backlash gains ground after decades of equality gains

Spain and France justify enshrining the right to abortion in their Constitutions as a safeguard against a ‘reactionary’ wave that could roll back achievements

Marc Bassets, Berlin
OCT 31, 2025

History never advances in a straight line. Although, as Martin Luther King said, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Progress always moves in fits and starts: two steps forward, one step back. This is also the case with women’s rights and equality.

For a decade or more — in Western countries and in the Global South — there have been numerous cases of rights being stripped away after a long period of progress. This regression — according to progressive and liberal political leaders — is linked to the global rise of new forms of authoritarianism and nationalism.

Continued: https://english.elpais.com/international/2025-11-01/global-anti-feminist-backlash-gains-ground-after-decades-of-equality-gains.html

Abortion freedom to be enshrined in Luxembourg’s constitution

Abortion freedom to be enshrined in Luxembourg's constitution
RTL Today
Oct 6, 2025

In recent weeks, lawmakers have debated whether Luxembourg's Constitution should refer to abortion as a right or a freedom.

On Friday, the parliamentary committee on institutions settled the question, with an overwhelming majority of MPs voting in favour of the term "freedom."

As explained by constitutional law expert Luc Heuschling the term offers stronger protection for doctors' freedom of conscience. Under this framework, women have the freedom to request the procedure, while doctors retain the freedom to decline to perform it.

Continued: https://today.rtl.lu/news/luxembourg/a/2343852.html

06.10.2025

News

enshrining abortion rights in constitution

Constitution @15: Kenya still fails women on reproductive rights and bodily autonomy

Unsafe abortion remains a leading cause of deaths and injuries related to pregnancy in Kenya.

Sunday, October 05, 2025
By Nyokabi Njogu

The Constitution enshrined reproductive rights, yet women and girls continue to face denial of services, unsafe abortions, and systemic barriers that undermine their dignity and autonomy.

Despite landmark court decisions affirming access to abortion, freedom from forced sterilisation, and reproductive autonomy, outdated laws and poor implementation continue to frustrate women’s rights.

Continued: https://nation.africa/kenya/news/gender/constitution-15-kenya-still-fails-women-on-reproductive-rights-and-bodily-autonomy-5213542

05.10.2025

News

court cases on abortion in Kenya

enshrining abortion rights in constitution

France’s Veil abortion law leaves positive but fragile legacy, 50 years on

France on Friday marks 50 years since the law decriminalising abortion came into effect. Since then, the law has undergone numerous updates to reflect changes in society and was even enshrined in the Constitution in March 2024. But despite these advances, advocates warn that access to abortion remains fragile in practice.

Issued on: 17/01/2025
By: Ollia Horton with RFI

The law to decriminalise abortion was proposed by then-health minister Simone Veil in November 1974. She was one of only nine female MPs at the time and faced enormous pressure – and abuse – during the 25-hour parliamentary debate.

"I never imagined the hatred that I would unleash," Veil later said, recalling how some lawmakers likened abortion to the Holocaust – of which Veil was a survivor, having been deported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps.

Continued: https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20250117-veil-abortion-law-leaves-positive-but-fragile-legacy-50-years-on

17.01.2025

News

conscience clause

enshrining abortion rights in constitution

France's abortion law

La Fondation des Femmes

Spain to enshrine gay marriage and abortion rights into its constitution so ‘they cannot be undone in the future’

Dec 6, 2024
by Laurence Dollimore

PRIME Minister Pedro Sanchez today vowed to add abortion rights and gay marriage to Spain’s constitution so they ‘can never be undone’.

The left-wing PSOE leader made the announcement at an event marking the 46th anniversary of the Spanish Magna Carta – when the country left behind the Franco dictatorship and installed a parliamentary democracy.

“We believe that these are rights that we must protect in the Constitution so that no one can touch them in the future,” Sanchez said in a statement in parliament on Friday.

Continued: https://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2024/12/06/spain-to-enshrine-gay-marriage-and-abortion-rights-into-its-constitution-so-they-cannot-be-undone-in-the-future/

06.12.2024

News

enshrining abortion rights in constitution

Abortion rights ballot measures pass in 7 states, fail in 3 others

Defeats in Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota ended an unbroken post-Roe ballot measure winning streak for reproductive rights advocates.

Nov. 6, 2024
By Adam Edelman

Constitutional amendments to protect or expand abortion rights passed in seven of the 10 states where they appeared on the ballot Tuesday, NBC News projects.

Voters in Arizona and Missouri approved ballot initiatives that will effectively protect abortion rights until fetal viability and undo existing abortion laws on the books. But voters in Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota rejected proposed amendments that would have done the same — becoming the first pro-abortion-rights ballot measures to fail since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022.

Continued: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/abortion-rights-ballot-measures-pass-7-states-fail-3-others-rcna178718

Expanding abortion access strengthens democracy, while abortion bans signal broader repression − worldwide study

October 24, 2024
Alison Brysk, Professor of Political Science and Global Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara

Abortion is on the agenda not just in the United States but worldwide.

A majority of people in developed democracies increasingly favor abortion rights and self-determination. And, in most places, laws are shifting to reflect public opinion. Since 2020, Argentina, Colombia and Mexico, among others, have legalized abortion. In 2024, France adopted the right to an abortion as a “guaranteed freedom” in its constitution.

At the same time, on every continent, some modern democracies are rolling back reproductive rights, among them Poland, Brazil and the U.S.

Continued: https://theconversation.com/expanding-abortion-access-strengthens-democracy-while-abortion-bans-signal-broader-repression-worldwide-study-240278

24.10.2024

Commentary

Abortion Rights Backlash

Alberto Fernandez

Alisan Brysk

Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women

enshrining abortion rights in constitution

Law and Justice party

Hundreds rally in the streets of Paris to support world abortion rights

Hundreds of people have marched in Paris in support of the right to abortion for women across the world

By DIANE JEANTET, Associated Press
September 28, 2024

PARIS -- Hundreds of people came out in Paris on Saturday, marching in support of the right to abortion for women across the world, just six months after France became the first country to guarantee in its constitution a woman's right to voluntarily terminate a pregnancy.

The protest, organized by civil society groups to mark International Safe Abortion Day, also called for greater and easier access to abortion in France, denouncing budget cuts, staff reductions and the closure of abortion centers and maternity wards, which organizers say all contribute to penalizing women.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/hundreds-rally-streets-paris-support-world-abortion-rights-114317884

28.09.2024

News

enshrining abortion rights in constitution

International Safe Abortion Day

Scotland – SNP members vote to enshrine right to abortion in indy Scotland constitution

Sep 1, 2024
By James Walker

SNP members have voted to enshrine the right to abortion in the constitution of an independent Scotland. The motion, which was proposed by the SNP’s Elgin branch, was comfortably passed at conference on Sunday.

It looked to "safeguard women's reproductive rights against any potential political or legal regression" amid recent developments in the United States, where the overturning of Roe v. Wade has led to significant rollbacks in women's right to an abortion in several states.

Continued: https://www.thenational.scot/news/24555117.snp-members-vote-enshrine-right-abortion-constitution/

01.09.2024

News

buffer zone laws

enshrining abortion rights in constitution

Olympics-host France Leads on Liberalizing Abortion

2024 is not only the year France hosts the Summer Olympics but also marks the year France became the first country to explicitly protect abortion in its constitution.

July 24, 2024
Center for Reproductive Rights

More than 15 million visitors are expected to travel to Paris for the 2024 Summer Olympics, taking place from July 26 to August 11. While these visitors are there to support their national teams, it also presents an opportunity to reflect on how their home countries compare to the host nation in terms of abortion rights and access.

In a historic milestone for reproductive rights in Europe, on March 4, 2024, France’s parliament voted overwhelmingly, by 780-72, to revise the country’s 1958 constitution to enshrine women’s “guaranteed freedom” to access abortion. President of France, Emmanuel Macron, described the decision as sending a universal message.”

Continued: https://reproductiverights.org/paris-olympics-france-abortion-law/

24.07.2024