France set to make abortion constitutional right
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00:00 Congress brings together the two chambers of parliament, the National Assembly and the Senate.
00:05 577 MPs and 348 senators are to convene on Monday to vote a protection of the right to
00:12 abortion into the constitution at a special hemicycle in the Chateau of Versailles where
00:17 they are seated in alphabetical order, not by political affiliation.
00:21 The vote itself will take place in neighbouring rooms.
00:25 A three-fifths majority is needed but after both chambers voted the constitutional change
00:30 by an overwhelming majority, the result does not seem to be in doubt.
00:36 The justice minister hailed this as a victory for women's rights.
00:40 "This vote is historic.
00:43 We will be the first country in the world to enshrine in the constitution the freedom
00:49 for women to have control over their own bodies."
00:55 Adding the caveat that the change is intended to protect this key freedom for women but
00:59 not to extend it further and that the current government wishes to avoid any future majority
01:04 attacking this right.
01:06 Congress last met in 2018 when President Macron assembled the lawmakers to present his roadmap
01:11 for government.
01:12 Before that, the last change to the constitution was in 2008 when Nicolas Sarkozy passed a
01:17 reform of institutions including a limit to the number of terms a president could serve.
01:22 (laughs)