- The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a bid to restrict the abortion pill, mifepristone.
- The court, in a unanimous opinion, ruled that anti-abortion groups and physicians challenging mifepristone lacked the legal standing to bring the case.
- Despite claims by abortion opponents that mifepristone is unsafe, polls show that a majority of Americans support continued access to safe abortion.
- Abortion rights have been a pivotal issue, especially after the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Roe v. Wade in 1973, which legalized abortion nationwide.
Abortion rights in the French Constitution
- France became the world’s first country to enshrine abortion rights in its constitution.
- The 25th Amendment states that there is a “guaranteed freedom” to abortion in France.
- Following the vote, the Eiffel Tower was lit up with the words “my body my choice.”
- France first legalized abortion in 1975, after a campaign led by then-Health Minister Simone Veil, an Auschwitz survivor who became one of the country’s most famous feminist icons.
- However, in 2022, the Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson overturned the Roe v. Wade verdict, returning the authority to regulate abortion to individual states, prompting 14 states to enact measures banning or sharply restricting the procedure.
Dig Deeper: Read about the referendum in Ireland to abolish the historic 8th amendment.
