FRENCH legislators overwhelmingly approved a Bill on Monday that enshrines abortion rights in the constitution.

France now becomes the only country in the world to explicitly guarantee a woman’s right to voluntarily terminate a pregnancy.

The historic legislation was proposed by President Emmanuel Macron to prevent any erosion of abortion rights, as seen in the United States and Poland in recent years.

A special joint session of the National Assembly and the Senate, held at the Palace of Versailles, approved the measure by 780 votes to 72, triggering a lengthy standing ovation.

Abortion has been legal in France since 1975.

Both houses of the French parliament had adopted the Bill to amend article 34 of the constitution, but the change needed final confirmation by a three-fifths majority at the special joint session. 

The measure specifies that “the law determines the conditions by which is exercised the freedom of women to have recourse to an abortion, which is guaranteed.”

Sarah Durocher, a leader of the Family Planning movement, described the vote as “a victory for feminists and a defeat for the anti-choice activists.”

Anne-Cecile Mailfert of the Women’s Foundation said: “It's a guarantee for women today and in the future to have the right to abort in France.”