The National Assembly of France approved, this Thursday (24), a bill that establishes the right to abortion in the country’s Constitution. In the European nation, women can undergo abortion procedures up to the 14th week of pregnancy, but the rule is not in the Magna Carta.
When voting on the proposition, congressmen mentioned the June decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, which reversed an opinion of the court itself on the subject and released state assemblies to approve laws against abortion. The fear of the French legislators is that the country’s Justice takes a similar decision – the insertion of the subject in the Constitution would inhibit this eventual movement.
“By introducing the right to abortion into the constitution, France would become a pioneer in terms of women’s rights,” said Mathilde Panot, a lawmaker from the far-left France Insubmissive. “We don’t want to give any chance to people hostile to the right to abortion and contraception,” she added.
It is unlikely, however, that the proposal will be approved by the right-wing controlled French Senate. Last month, in the same vein, the Upper House rejected a cross-party bill intended to make the right to abortion and contraception part of the Constitution.
According to a poll taken in July by the Ifop research institute, some 83% of French people are satisfied that abortion is legal in the country, 16 percentage points more than some 30 years ago. The same poll showed that 81% are in favor of including the right to abortion in the Constitution.
The numbers, incidentally, may have influenced the stance of Marine Le Pen, leader of the French far-right. This Thursday, contrary to her conservative record, she was one of the legislators who voted yes to the project – 337 parliamentarians voted in favor of the measure and another 32 voted against it.
“There is dishonesty, once again, in making people believe that the question is whether we are for or against the possibility of abortion. Obviously, this is not the question that is being asked here. only political movement in France representative of the withdrawal of this right from women,” she said while voting.
In her previous legislature, Le Pen had already criticized a similar bill, and 10 years ago she opposed full public reimbursement for abortions – such a measure, she said, would increase “convenience abortions”.
In recent months, however, the ultra-rightist has tried to present herself as a more balanced and centrist politician. For that reason, since July, according to the French newspaper Le Monde, she has avoided discussing the subject when questioned, even though she stresses that she is against the project. On the last 13th, the Frenchwoman said she did not agree with the argument that the right to abortion was threatened in the country.
His measured stance, however, failed to convert all far-right lawmakers. Parliamentarian Emmanuelle Menard, for example, urged her colleagues to “stop playing with the fear of a reversal of abortion rights”, which she says is impossible to happen in France.
A similar project should be considered once again by the National Assembly next Monday (28), when President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party will present a proposal on the subject.
If approved, the text goes back to the Senate and, if ratified, will be submitted to a referendum. This last step can be avoided if the bill is introduced by the government.
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