the Assembly is favorable to the formulation of “guaranteed freedom”

The deputies declared themselves in favor by a large majority, Wednesday January 24 in the evening, of the inclusion in the Constitution of “freedom guaranteed” for women to resort to voluntary termination of pregnancy (abortion). The solemn vote in the Hemicycle on the text will take place on Tuesday January 30, but attention was focused on the wording of article 1 – and only – of this bill.

Since the vote on November 24, 2022, in the National Assembly, of a bill from the ranks of the La France insoumise (LFI) group, the terms of the text have evolved. On Wednesday, parliamentarians debated the advisability of inserting into article 34 that “the law determines the conditions under which the freedom guaranteed to a woman to have recourse to a voluntary termination of pregnancy is exercised”.

By this formulation, the executive hopes to find a way between the Assembly, which had voted for the LFI text to dedicate a ” right “ to abortion, and the Senate, which narrowly validated a few months later the inclusion in the Constitution of a ” freedom “.

99 votes for, 13 against

After often bitter debates between the majority and the left on one side, and elected Republicans (LR) on the other, the text proposed in the constitutional reform project received 99 votes in favor. The presidential camp and the left and LIOT deputies present contributed their votes, like two LR deputies and two from the National Rally (RN). Thirteen deputies voted against (4 LR, 8 RN and one non-registered).

“Abortion is not a freedom like any other, because it allows women to decide their future”launched the Keeper of the Seals, Eric Dupond-Moretti, at the opening of the debates.

“Our country cannot side with Trump’s United States or Orban’s Hungary. The crows are at our doors and we will not leave our bodies”, launched the environmentalist deputy for Rhône Marie-Charlotte Garin. Despite regrets on the left over the abandonment of the term ” right “ or the absence of reference to contraception, Mathilde Panot (LFI) called for a “historic victory” on the “anti-rights [qui] sit (…) on the far right ».

“There is no question of our political family calling into question access to abortion”retorted Pascale Bordes (RN, Gard), criticizing a reform “inappropriate and unnecessary”.

Debates on extending the legal deadline

The debates turned sour in the evening, in particular during the examination of LR amendments to return the legal period for abortion to twelve weeks (compared to fourteen currently). Reproaching the majority for not committing against a hypothetical significant extension of the legal duration, Xavier Breton (LR) accused it of behaving in “Family Planning trailer”sparking a reaction on the left and among the Macronists.

Defending the association, “independent”the Renaissance rapporteur Guillaume Gouffier Valente replied that he had not seen “the slightest amendment requesting an extension” on the left or among the Macronists, but several who “attack access to the right to abortion” coming from the right.

Basically, Eric Dupond-Moretti tried to respond to the LRs who see in the formula “freedom guaranteed” a breach for an extension of the legal duration, without the Constitutional Council being able to oppose it. The revision will not create “absolute and unlimited right”he insisted.

Invoking a ” balance “ of the Veil law between women’s freedom and “protection of the unborn child”LR deputies pleaded to constitutionalize the “protection of human dignity” and the conscience clause for caregivers refusing to perform abortions. In a deaf dialogue, the minister insisted that they were secured by decisions of the Constitutional Council, calling for respect for the“text balance”but without succeeding in convincing them.

Eyes turned towards the Senate

If the entire text is adopted in the Assembly on Tuesday, which there is little doubt, it will then have to be adopted in the same terms in the Senate – an uncertain hypothesis at this stage – to hope to be ratified. Because the path chosen for a constitutional revision requires that both chambers adopt the same text, before it is submitted to a vote in Congress bringing together parliamentarians, and requiring three-fifths of the votes.

But any change in text would have consequences on the calendar. For a Congress to be convened, the Senate would have to approve this notion of “freedom guaranteed”, which raises eyebrows among executives on the right. And the senatorial right, reluctant to give gifts to the executive, had experienced as pressure the fact that the government suggested, in December, the date of March 5 to convene the Congress, which would suppose that the Senate approved the wording of the government.

“We will take the time necessary to complete this review”, promised by Emmanuel Macron, attempted to clear Eric Dupond-Moretti on Wednesday. If the Senate again passes a different version of the Assembly, the parliamentary shuttle would resume.