Vatican on France’s abortion amendment: There cannot be a ‘right’ to take a human life

The French prelate repeated the call for respect for life “from its conception to its natural death,” which, he added, “should be recognized as part of the common foundation on which our society is based.”

“I want to encourage the parliamentarians gathered in Versailles … to resist any media or political pressure, to vote conscientiously and with seriousness, and to show courage as some — whom I thank — have already done,” the bishop continued in his March 2 statement. 

France has a bicameral legislature composed of a lower house, the National Assembly, and the upper house, the Senate. In January, the National Assembly voted to introduce the constitutional amendment on “the freedom of women to have recourse to an abortion, which is guaranteed. ” The Senate voted for a similar measure on March 1. 

On Monday, March 4, a joint session of Parliament passed the bill 780-72, which was followed by a drawn-out standing ovation. 

Later that evening the Eiffel Tower was illuminated with the words “my body, my choice” as jubilant onlookers celebrated, a scene that was repeated all over the country. 

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The amendment was championed by President Emmanuel Macron in 2023 and reflected a broader consensus among the French public. 

According to a poll conducted by YouGov at the end of February, 66% of French people supported a constitutional amendment for abortion protection, with the largest cohort of support coming from those who are 18-34 (76%) and from women (71%). 

While some have suggested that Macron’s support for the amendment was motivated by political reasons, others have expressed that the vote passed due to a shared sense of “panic” by French women, citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision to repeal Roe v. Wade as an example. 

“We imported a debate that is not French since the United States was first to remove that from law with the repeal of Roe v. Wade … There was an effect of panic from feminist movements, which wished to engrave this on the marble of the constitution,” said Pascale Moriniere, president of the Association of Catholic Families. 

Mathilde Panot, head of the left-wing political party France Unbowed and a major force behind the bill, shared this sentiment in a statement to Politico.

“It’s impossible to tell if abortion rights won’t come into question in the future in France,” she said. “It’s important to capitalize when we have the public on our side.”

France decriminalized abortion in 1975 and in 2022 the gestational stage limit for abortion was extended to 14 weeks of pregnancy.

Pope Francis has long been a vocal opponent of abortion, calling it “murder” and saying that it is equivalent to “hiring a hitman.” In the PAV’s March 4 letter, the body cited the pope’s words from a March 25, 2020, general audience, noting: “The defense of life is not an ideology; it is a reality, a human reality that involves all Christians, precisely because they are Christian and because they are human.” 

While France has long had the epithet of “the eldest daughter of the Church,” the faith has been in steep decline over the past decades. 

According to a poll by the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies of France, only 29% of French people aged 18-59 identified as Catholic, while among believers an estimated 8% attend Mass regularly.

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