French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday that, though his country recently codified abortion as a constitutional right, he is now pushing for the rest of the European Union to recognize the “right” to abortion in its Charter of Fundamental Rights.
Macron made the comments during a ceremony to finalize the change to the country’s constitution.
The event and comments coincided with International Women’s Day. Though the change to the constitution was championed as a victory for women and the oppressed, in reality, it oppresses an extremely large population of women: the innocent preborn girls who will inevitably be killed through the country’s relaxed abortion laws. Abortion also harms mothers, many of whom live with trauma, grief, and regret for years afterward.
“Today’s not the end of the story, it’s the beginning of a combat,” he said. “If France has become the only country in the world whose constitution explicitly protects the right to an abortion in all circumstances, we will not rest until this promise is kept throughout the world. We will wage this battle on our continent, in our Europe, where reactionary forces first and always attack women’s rights, before going on to attack the rights of minorities, of all the oppressed, of all freedoms,” he warned.
“This is why I want to enshrine that guaranteed freedom to abortion in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.”
The occasion was not the first time that Macron has called for a revision of the EU’s rights charter. In January 2022, he spoke to members of the European Parliament saying that because Europe was “strong in values,” member countries should recognize the right to abortion. He has also previously expressed anti-life sentiments by insulting mothers of large families.
According to France 24, changing the EU’s charter would be difficult, as it would require unanimity among all the member nations, some of which still provide protections to most preborn children.
