France’s Macron vows fight to enshrine abortion rights EU-wide

French President Emmanuel Macron said that he wants that the right to abortion be enshrined in the European Union’s Charter of Fundamental Rights.

“Today is not the end of the story. It is the start of a fight,” Macron said on Friday, which is International Women’s Day. “We’re going to lead this fight in our continent, in our Europe, where reactionary forces are attacking women’s rights before attacking the rights of minorities, the oppressed.”

“This is why I want to enshrine that guaranteed freedom to abortion in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,” he said.

Macron delivered his remarks at a ceremony celebrating Monday’s vote to enshrine the freedom to have an abortion in the France’s constitution — the first country in the world to do so.

By pushing forward the proposal, Macron looked to send a strong message of support for reproductive rights and, at the same time, score political points at the expense of a resurgent far right. 

Abortion rights are widely supported in France, and limiting them was not a publicly debated issue — but Macron’s constitutional amendment exposed divisions within conservative and far-right parties and forced them to discuss an issue on which they had long preferred to keep silent.

Victor Goury-Laffont contributed to this report.