• French MPs and senators on Monday voted in a joint session of parliament to enshrine “guaranteed” access to abortion in the nation’s constitution, after 780 of 925 representatives supported introducing an amendment. Guardian (LR: 2 CP: 5)
• Article 34 of France’s constitution now reads: “The law determines the conditions by which is exercised the freedom of women to have recourse to an abortion, which is guaranteed.” Times
• The reform — passed with a three-fifths majority — makes France the world’s only country to give women the constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy. Abortion has been legal in the country since 1975. France 24
• Prime Minister Gabriel Attal told those who attended the vote at the Palace of Versailles that the French parliament was “sending a message to all women: your body belongs to you and no one can decide for you.” Sky News
• Pres. Emmanuel Macron had initially promised to progress the constitutional right to abortion after the US Supreme Court controversially overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. BBC News
• France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who voted in support of the amendment, said calling it historic was “an exaggeration” and argued Macron was merely scoring political points by hyperbolizing the significance of the legislation. Al Jazeera (LR: 2 CP: 1)

Left narrative:

• Versailles has made crucial progress in the protection of women’s rights, all while the rest of the world seems to be taking steps backwards. Coming amid the dark ripples cast by the US Supreme Court’s regressive decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, and another US court’s recent move to legally treat embryos as children, the French parliament has sent out a reassuring message to anguished women across the world that it is possible to uphold reproductive rights.
  LOS ANGELES TIMES

Right narrative:

• It’s ironic that legitimizing the taking of infants’ lives is being celebrated in an era of increased emphasis on human rights. Equality and progress should be celebrated, but it should also be emphasized that entrenching the right to terminate pregnancy in France’s constitution infringes on the rights of unborn children. This damaging reform risks doing great practical and moral harm.
  LE MONDE.FR

Nerd narrative:

• There’s a 4% chance that elective abortion will be banned nationally in the US before 2030, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
  METACULUS (LR: 3 CP: 3)