France’s Abortion Move Is Characteristic—and a Warning to the U.S.

On International Women’s Day, it is the tradition of modern women to grumble about men. Permit me to join them: My grievance is with the majority male French Parliament, which on Monday voted overwhelmingly to enshrine a right to abortion in the French constitution. 

France’s move is mostly symbolic: The country prides itself on being ahead of the curve of liberal democracy, meaning the legal freedom to kill the unborn is unlikely to be curtailed in French law regardless of what the constitution says. But after the United States Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, France’s President Emmanuel Macron promised to provide constitutional protection for infanticide too. The French parliament kept that promise Monday afternoon, making it the first nation to create a right to abortion in its foundational document. The streets of Paris ran purple with women and men celebrating their freedom to kill.