The move, approved by the senate last night, would create a “guaranteed freedom” of women to choose an abortion.

The move was prompted by a fear of rights being rolled back across the world in the wake of the US Supreme Court overturning the 50-year-old ruling of Roe v Wade in 2022.

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said: “When women’s rights are attacked in the world, France stands up and places itself at the avant garde of progress.”

Justice Minister Éric Dupond-Moretti added: “This vote is historic … It states to all those who don’t yet know it that the women in our country are free … and to what point we are attached to that freedom.”

Mélanie Vogel, a Green senator, commented: “This is a historic, feminist victory.”

Communist senator Ian Brossat said: “It will be a victory for women across the world.”

The change is expected to gain the requisite three-fifths majority of a joint session of the parliament, called for Monday, and which is traditionally held at the Palace of Versailles.

President Emmanuel Macron said he had promised to make women’s freedom to choose an abortion “irreversible”.