Lawmakers voted in a joint session of parliament on Monday to guarantee abortion access by adding a line to the Constitution.
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00:00 France will officially change its constitution to make abortion a guaranteed right after
00:07 lawmakers gathered in Versailles on Monday. A joint session of both houses of parliament
00:13 needed a three-fifths majority after gaining approval of the Senate. The vote will give
00:19 women a guaranteed right to abortion enshrined in the company's constitution.
00:24 We are still far from the end of the road, but step by step equality is coming closer.
00:31 By guaranteeing the freedom to resort to voluntary interruption of pregnancy in our constitution,
00:35 we give a second victory to Simone Veil and to all those who have opened the way.
00:40 We are especially addressing a message to all women. Your body belongs to you and no one
00:45 has the right to dispose of it in your place.
00:48 The measure had been backed by French President Emmanuel Macron, who vowed to enshrine abortion
00:54 in the constitution after the US Supreme Court overturned the right for the procedure in
00:58 2022 in the United States. France is the first country in the world to write abortion as
01:04 a right into its constitution.
01:06 (applause)
01:08 (whooshing)