Why France has made abortion a constitutional right

France, which signed the declaration of the rights of man in 1789, has not traditionally been at the forefront of securing the rights of women. They had to wait until 1944 to win the vote, 16 years after British women. France legalised abortion only in 1975. On March 4th, however, when the French parliament voted to make abortion a constitutional right, it became the first country to do so explicitly. “The place of women has changed because France has changed,” declared Yaël Braun-Pivet, the first female head of the National Assembly, who presided over the vote. That evening the Eiffel Tower was lit up with the words “My body, my choice”.