PARIS (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron called on Friday for the freedom to resort to voluntary termination of pregnancy (abortion) to be included in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
The Head of State formalized, on the occasion of International Women’s Rights Day, the inclusion of abortion in the French Constitution, a world first.
“France has today become the only country in the world whose Constitution explicitly protects the right to voluntary termination of pregnancy, in all circumstances. And we will only find rest when this promise is kept everywhere in the world,” did he declare.
Emmanuel Macron presided over Place Vendôme, where the Ministry of Justice is located, the sealing ceremony, open to the public for the first time. Sealing is the placing of a wax seal on the text of the law.
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In his speech, the Head of State denounced the “setbacks of our time” and targeted “the reactionary forces” who “first and always attack the rights of women before then attacking the rights of minorities, of all the oppressed, of all freedoms.
“This is why I want this guaranteed freedom to resort to voluntary termination of pregnancy to be included in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,” he added to the applause of the public.
Those present included feminist activists, members of the government and personalities such as actress Catherine Deneuve and singer Catherine Ringer, who performed “La Marseillaise”.
French senators and deputies meeting in Congress at the Palace of Versailles on Monday largely endorsed the inclusion in the Basic Law of abortion, legalized in France since 1975.
(Reporting by Elizabeth Pineau)
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