Has Marine Le Pen always defended the freedom to resort to abortion?

On franceinfo, Marine Le Pen assured that the National Rally had “never questioned access to abortion“. But has she always had such a clear position on the right to abortion? In 2002, she was campaigning for her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen. At that time, the party line was crystal clear: “Going against the Common Good of our country, abortion laws will be repealed“, indicated the program. A vision from which Marine Le Pen stands out in her autobiographical book, written in 2006. She nevertheless writes in it that she wants “fight against abortion“, but by “incentives“rather than coercive.

In 2012, for her first candidacy for the presidential election, she thus proposed the dereimbursement of abortions, which she said “of comfort“, evoking “abuse“. A position that allows him to establish his legitimacy within the party.”Today the party is totally ‘marinized’, but back then she still faced an old guard“, recalls the researcher at CEVIPOF Gilles Ivaldi. This year, the candidate made a mea culpa for her use of the expression “comfort abortion“, but opposed the extension of the abortion period and its inclusion in the Constitution.