France has set a trend in becoming the first country to include the right to abortion in its Constitution. And it did so in style with the iconic Eiffel Tower lit up with the message — “My Body My Choice”. Abortion has been legal since 1975, but in view of what the United States did in 2022 in taking away such a right of choice for women, the French President, Emmanuel Macron, had promised that it would never happen in his country.
An impressive 780-72 vote among 577 MPS and 348 senators who gathered at the Palace of Versailles stressed the message of choice over the right to life that certain religions propound. This is a great universal message for the right of women to their body, but probably one that will not be emulated everywhere because of politico-religious reasons.
Unlike the US, Europe had always taken the more enlightened view that women had the right to their body with about 40 countries freely offering the procedure. India has always taken a liberal view, perhaps its need for population control amid a time of burgeoning population proving the practical tipping point.
The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Amendment Act, 2021 allows abortion up to 24 weeks, beyond which a state-level medical board would decide, but often the matter would end up in court. Since September 2022, the Supreme Court also extended the right of safe and free abortion to unmarried women as well. In that sense, India has been a trendsetter, too.
Reproductive autonomy is an idealistic concept even if nature ordained that it is the female sex that must undergo the travails of pregnancy and the post-partum effects.
The right to abortion makes perfect sense in times in which the gap between the genders has been narrowed by choice as well as legislation and the courts pointing out the inequities. Of course, if religious belief stops any woman in India from having an abortion, she has the pro-life choice too, indeed so in China for that matter as well.
The French guarantee of abortion as a constitutional right is cause enough for women to celebrate around the world though so many do not enjoy that freedom of choice yet. There is always the hope that the rest of the world will see why this pro-choice legislation is important for women’s rights.
