France makes it a constitutional right.

This is News Review from BBC Learning English, where we help you understand news headlines in English. I'm Beth.

And I'm Phil.

Make sure you watch till the end to learn the vocabulary that you need to talk about this story.

And don't forget to subscribe to our channel to learn more English from the headlines. Now today's story.

"We're sending a message to all women: your body belongs to you and no one can decide for you."

Those were the words of the French Prime Minister after parliament voted to include the right to an abortion in the country's constitution.

Research into public opinion suggests that the measure is supported by a large proportion of French people, though it has been criticized by anti-abortion campaigners in the Catholic church.

You've been looking at the headlines. What's the vocabulary that people need to understand this news story in English?

We have 'enshrines,' 'lament,' and 'follow its lead.'

This is News Review from BBC Learning English. Let's have a look at our first headline.

This is from France 24: France enshrines abortion as a constitutional right in historic vote.

So France has put the right to have an abortion into its constitution.

We're looking at the word 'enshrine.' I can see that enshrine has the word shrine in it.

Phil, can you tell us why that's important?

OK. A shrine is a place of worship and it's an important part of the verb enshrine.

Let's start by looking at it literally, and you can see that it has this prefix in which is about something, being inside something.

So if something is enshrined, literally, it's put inside a shrine because people think it's very important or sacred.

OK. So that's the literal meaning.

It's about treating something as so important that you put it in a shrine, but we're not talking about religious things here.

So why is it being used in this story?

OK. Well, this is a metaphorical use and it takes this idea that something is very important and that it needs to be protected legally.

So in this case, France has enshrined the right to abortion in its constitution to protect it.

And we might talk about other countries enshrining the rights to free speech or enshrining the idea of freedom of religion in their laws, for example.

OK, let's look at that again.

Let's have our next headline.

This is from the Catholic News Agency: French bishops lament country's enshrinement of abortion in constitution.

This is saying that bishops in France, that's senior people in the church, are opposed to the change in the constitution.

Now we're looking at the word lament. Phil, what does it mean?

Ok. Here it's a verb. It can also be a noun.

And the most important thing about its meaning is that it's an expression of sadness.

So as a verb, it means to express sadness.

So here, it means that French Bishops are expressing their sadness about the change.

Now, lament is a word that we do quite often see in news headlines.

Can you give us some other examples?

Well, as a noun, it can be a song or poem that expresses sadness.

You could have a lament for times past or a lament for lost youth.

That's nostalgic about the past and sad about how things have changed.

Now, we don't really use it for everyday situations.

So I'm not going to write a lament about how late my train was this morning.

Ok, let's look at that again.

Next headline, please.

This is from Euractiv: France hopes other EU countries follow its lead on abortion.

Now, this headline is referring to a French minister who has said that she hopes other EU countries will take similar measures when it comes to abortion.

Now, we're going to look at the phrase 'follow its lead.'

Phil, this makes me think of a dog. You take a dog for a walk on a lead.

Is that relevant?

Well, kind of. You use a lead (that's a noun) to lead (that's a verb) a dog to where you want to go.

So lead can be a verb or a noun and it has this idea to take someone somewhere.

So the verb lead is straightforward. It means to take or direct someone.

But here we've got a noun. What does it mean?

Ok. Well, in this case, it's a bit like direction.

So we've got follow its lead or follow France's lead and it means to go in the same direction or to do something similar.

That's a metaphorical use, but we can use it literally as well.

Can't we, Beth?

Yes. So for example, if I was teaching you a dance, I might say follow my lead and it means follow my direction.

OK, let's look at that again.

We've had enshrines -- protect something in law.

Lament -- express sadness.

And follow its lead -- go in the same direction.

It's International Women's Day this week, click here for some programs.

And don't forget to click here to subscribe to our channel, so you never miss another video.

Thanks for joining us.

Bye. -Bye.