ENSHRINING THE RIGHT TO ABORTION IN THE CONSTITUTION: THE EXAMPLE OF FRANCE

Abstract

The article is devoted to the prospects of enshrining the right to abortion at the level of the text of the Constitution. Attention is drawn to the necessity of such an enshrining. Article gives the argumentation regarding the expediency of such enshrining is presented, and analyzes the international experience in the issue of reproductive rights and freedoms. The article examines the issue of protection and realization of reproductive rights and freedoms, in particular the right to abortion, which is considered by this article as an inherent right of a woman to independently dispose of her body and terminate a pregnancy by her own will at any time that is allowed from a medical point of view. The purpose of the article is to study the issue of enshrining such a reproductive right as the right to abortion at the level of the text of the constitution. This article examines the initiative to enshrine the right as a right to abortion at the level of the text of the French Constitution. In this study, such an enshrining is considered as a strengthened guarantee of the protection of the right to abortion and acts as a prevention against the possible usurpation of this right by the state, its government bodies and their officials. Enshrining the right to abortion at the level of the text of the constitution is a guarantee of the impossibility of cancelling this right by subsequent generations of power. On the other hand, the phenomenon of a complete or partial ban on abortion as a form of exercising a woman’s right to reproductive choice is considered a violation of constitutional and international law. Thus, this study analyzed in detail the reversal of the US Supreme Court’s triumphant decision (1973) Roe v. Wade case. Hence proved, such a repeal has been shown to effectively pave the way for individual states to ban abortion procedures, which is nothing more than the repeal of the constitutional right to abortion itself.