France has made history by becoming the world's first country to explicitly incorporate the right to abortion into its constitution.

Members of Parliament voted to amend the nation's 1958 constitution to codify women's "guaranteed freedom" to terminate pregnancies.

The resounding 780-72 vote elicited a standing ovation in the Versailles parliament upon the announcement of the result.

President Emmanuel Macron hailed the decision as a source of "French pride" and a conveyance of a "universal message."

Nevertheless, the alteration has drawn strong criticism from anti-abortion groups and the Vatican.

Abortion has been legal in France since 1975, with polls indicating that approximately 85% of the populace supported constitutional amendments to safeguard the right to abortion.

While several other countries include reproductive rights in their constitutions, France is the first to expressly affirm the guarantee of abortion.

This revision marks the 25th amendment to France's contemporary founding document and the first since 2008.

In the aftermath of the vote, the Eiffel Tower in Paris illuminated in celebration, displaying the message: "My Body My Choice."

Ahead of the vote, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal informed parliament that the right to abortion remained "in jeopardy" and "subject to the whims of decision-makers."

"We're sending a message to all women: your body belongs to you, and no one can make decisions on your behalf," he emphasized.

Although resistance from right-wing factions in parliament failed to materialize, accusations have been leveled against President Macron for exploiting the constitution for electoral gains.

Critics say the revision is not necessarily wrong in itself, but unnecessary, and accused the president of trying to use the cause to boost his left-wing credentials.

Since 1975 the law has been updated nine times - and on each occasion with the aim of extending access.

France's constitutional council - the body that decides on the constitutionality of laws - has never raised a query.

In a 2001 ruling, the council based its approval of abortion on the notion of liberty enshrined in the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man, which is technically part of the constitution.

So many jurists say abortion was already a constitutional right.

The constitutional change was prompted by recent developments in the US, where the right to abortion was removed by the Supreme Court in 2022. Individual states are now able to ban the procedure again, ending the right to an abortion for millions of women.

The move to enshrine abortion in the French constitution has been welcomed by many.

"This right (to abortion) has retreated in the United States. And so nothing authorised us to think that France was exempt from this risk," said Laura Slimani, from the Fondation des Femmes rights group.

"There's a lot of emotion, as a feminist activist, also as a woman," she said.

But not all support it, with the Vatican repeating its opposition to abortion.

"There can be no 'right' to take a human life," the Vatican institution said in a statement, echoing concerns already raised by French Catholic bishops.

It appealed to "all governments and all religious traditions to do their best so that, in this phase of history, the protection of life becomes an absolute priority".

Not good enough.
Too bad.