Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to Gisèle Halimi, the lawyer who was instrumental in legalizing abortion in France in 1975, by calling for a bill to enshrine the freedom to choose a “voluntary termination of a pregnancy” in the French Constitution. This is something that should happen everywhere so the so called “religious nut heads” cannot touch it.

Debate on safeguarding abortion rights through an amendment of the Constitution began last year in the National Assembly and continued this year in the Senate. Macron’s mention of a bill injected a new urgency into the process, and his decision to honor her legacy was met with criticism from her family members and supporters due to the timing of the homage and his proposed pension reform.