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


French lawmakers approve a bill that makes abortion a constitutional right

French lawmakers have overwhelmingly approved a bill to enshrine abortion rights in France’s constitution, making it the only country to explicitly guarantee a woman’s right to voluntarily terminate a pregnancy

By BARBARA SURK and NICOLAS GARRIGA, Associated Press
March 4, 2024

PARIS -- French lawmakers on Monday overwhelmingly approved a bill to enshrine abortion rights in France's constitution, making it the only country to explicitly guarantee a woman’s right to voluntarily terminate a pregnancy.

The historic move was proposed by President Emmanuel Macron as a way to prevent the kind of rollback of abortion rights seen in the United States in recent years, and the vote during a special joint session of France's parliament drew a long standing ovation among lawmakers.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/french-lawmakers-gather-historic-vote-make-abortion-constitutional-107766852


France on-track to constitutionalize abortion rights

By Claudia Colliva and Maya Szaniecki, CNN
Tue January 30, 2024

The French National Assembly has passed a historic bill that moves the country one step closer to enshrining the right to abortion in its constitution.

In a vote in the lower house of the French parliament on Tuesday, 493 lawmakers voted in favor of the bill, 30 against. The bill will now move to the Senate for debate and a vote and, if approved, a special body composed of both chambers of the parliament will meet again for its adoption.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/30/europe/france-abortion-rights-vote-intl/index.html


Emmanuel Macron is playing a dangerous game with abortion rights in France

The president is flirting with the pro-natalist far right, even as parliament debates whether to enshrine pro-choice laws

Cécile Simmons, The Guardian
Sun 28 Jan 2024

France needs babies. During a press conference on 16 January, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, pledged to tackle the scourge of infertility and offered enhanced parental “childbirth leave” as part of his “demographic rearmament” plan to revive the country’s declining birthrate.

While his goals may be commendable, Macron’s rhetoric sounds alarmingly close to that of authoritarian and rightwing populist leaders who have been aggressively pursuing pro-natalist policies in recent years. After all, Vladimir Putin recently urged Russian women to have “eight or more children” as he seeks to reverse the decades of population decline that have only been exacerbated by heavy casualties in Ukraine.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/28/emmanuel-macron-abortion-france-president-natalist-far-right-laws