France moves to enshrine abortion rights

France is on the verge of enshrining abortion rights into the country’s constitution. Lawmakers in the lower house passed the historic bill last month, which now heads to the French senate for its final legislative hurdle. The AFP news agency reports that President Emmanuel Macron’s government wants Article 34 of the constitution amended to specify that “the law determines the conditions by which is exercised the freedom of women to have recourse to an abortion, which is guaranteed.” If the Senate adopts the same version of the bill as the National Assembly, the constitutional change will require definitive approval by a three-fifths majority of a joint session of parliament, traditionally held at the Palace of Versailles.