In this episode of Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRHM) Podcast.says Eszter Kismődi Stéphanie Hennette-VauchezProfessor of Public Law at the Université Paris Nanterre and senior member of the Institut universitaire de France, on France’s landmark 2024 constitutional reform recognizing abortion as “Freedom Guaranteed” as well as the later ones Law of December 2025 recognizing the harms caused by the criminalization of abortion before 1975;
It was approved by an overwhelming parliamentary majority (780–72) and was formally written into the Constitution in 8 March 2024 (International Women’s Day)the reform represents a historic legal development with implications that extend far beyond France. It is the first time that abortion has been explicitly recognized at the constitutional level as a protected freedom, sending a powerful message at a time when sexual and reproductive rights are increasingly contested worldwide.
The debate places the reform within the larger trajectory of French abortion law, beginning with 1975 legislation that decriminalized abortion and gradually expanded access through public health inclusion, social security compensation and extended gestational limits. The episode explores how the 2024 amendment came about in part in response to 2022 US Supreme Court Dobbs decisionhighlighting the transatlantic dimensions of constitutional politics and the global reverberations of legal developments affecting reproductive rights.
The debate examines the significance of the amendment’s wording, which refers to abortion as a “Freedom Guaranteed” rather than an express constitutional “right”. While this distinction may have limited technical legal impact within the French constitutional framework, it reflects the political negotiations that shaped the final text and raises broader questions about how constitutions articulate reproductive autonomy, equality, and citizenship.
The episode also explores the symbolic and practical dimensions of constitutional recognition. While constitutional change alone does not automatically resolve disparities in access to services, it can enhance the understanding of abortion as a matter of public health, gender equality and social justice, and as an issue deserving of constitutional protection in democratic societies.
Importantly, the podcast also discusses an important later legal development: the December 2025 French law recognizing harms caused by pre-1975 criminalization of abortion. This law recognizes that punitive abortion laws have been violations of women’s health, autonomy, equality, and privacy, and recognizes the physical and psychological suffering caused by past criminalization. The law establishes a commission to further document these harms, marking an additional step in addressing the historical consequences of restrictive reproductive laws.
Throughout the discussion, speakers reflect on the larger global context in which reproductive rights are increasingly contested, while also underscoring the importance of continued attention to the practical conditions that shape access to abortion, including disparities linked to geography, socioeconomic status, immigration status, and health system organization. The debate also examines its role conscientious objection in health systems and the importance of ensuring that legal protection translates into effective and equitable access to services.
Taken together, these legal developments in France show how constitutional law can reflect and shape evolving understandings of reproductive autonomy, public health, and gender equality. In an era of global uncertainty about sexual and reproductive rights, the French experience provides an example of how legal frameworks can move towards strengthening protections, while also highlighting the continued need for vigilance to ensure meaningful access in practice.
Speaker
Stéphanie Hennette-Vauchez is Professor of Public Law at the Université Paris Nanterre and Senior Fellow at the Institut universitaire de France. Her research focuses on constitutional law, human rights, gender equality and the legal dimensions of reproductive rights.
Host
Eszter Kismődi is Managing Director of Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters (SRHM), an international human rights lawyer specializing in sexual and reproductive health and rights, global law and health policy.
