The National Assembly approved the inscription of the right to abortion in the French Constitution. Society

As of this Tuesday, France is a little closer to becoming one of the first countries in the world where the constitution enshrines the right to abortion. According to the plan, the National Assembly has adopted, in the first reading, to inscribe the following paragraph into Article 34 of the Fundamental Law: “The law lays down the conditions by which women are guaranteed the freedom to resort to voluntary interruption of work. Is given. Pregnancy.” ,

493 deputies from President Emmanuel Macron’s party bloc and the left voted in favor of the bill, and 30 deputies from the right and far-right voted against it. The text must now go to the Senate, where the conservative majority of Los Republicanos – sister party of the Spanish PP – could block the process or at least amend the National Assembly’s version.

The president of the Senate, conservative Gerard Larcher, had declared himself against it a few days earlier: “Voluntary interruption of pregnancy is not a threat in our country. If it were threatened, believe me, I would fight to keep it.

After this Tuesday’s vote, the Justice Minister, Eric Dupond-Moretti, said in the chamber: “The National Assembly and the Government have not abandoned their appointment with women’s history. Now I’m going to take charge of carrying your message to the Senate.

To approve a constitutional reform, the Senate and the National Assembly must first adopt exactly the same text. It is then presented for a vote by Congress, which is the format of both houses meeting together. The reform is definitely adopted if it receives at least three-fifths of the votes in Congress.

The first initiative in France to include the right to abortion in the Constitution was presented in response to the decision of the United States Supreme Court, which annulled the landmark decision in the summer of 2022. roe vs wadeEuropean countries like Poland already have restrictions in place. The idea was to protect this right against the possibility that at some point a leader or party with a parliamentary majority would come to power to suppress the 1973 French law.

In November 2022, the National Assembly had already approved the inclusion of the “right to voluntary interruption of pregnancy” in the Constitution with 337 votes in favor and 32 against. The law was an initiative of the left, supported by Macronists, and followed a process that might have resulted in a referendum with a more uncertain outcome.

In February 2023, the Senate adopted its version of the text. He no longer spoke of “the right to voluntarily terminate a pregnancy”, but of “a woman’s freedom to terminate her pregnancy”. Debate arose over the distinction between “rights” and “liberties”. There was a danger of the proposal being shelved.

In March, during a national tribute to the historic lawyer and feminist Gisele Halimi, Macron said: “And today I want the power of (her) message to help us change our Constitution so that it supports women’s freedoms Could.” Voluntary termination of pregnancy, seriously ensuring that nothing can hinder or cancel it, will, in this way, be irreversible.

In December, the President presented a compromise project, the purpose of which was to garner maximum consensus and ensure its adoption in Congress with the votes of the left, center and right. That’s why the text adopted Tuesday speaks of “guaranteed freedom” rather than “right,” an expression that is more likely to please conservatives in the Senate. Now he has the key.

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