Registration of the right to abortion in the Constitution: first setback in the Senate

We knew the path strewn with pitfalls, here is a first illustration. The majority right-wing senators rejected, on Wednesday, October 12, in committee a proposal to include the right to abortion and contraception in the Constitution, carried by the environmentalist senator Mélanie Vogel, auguring the same fate next Wednesday in the hemicycle. The proposed constitutional law will be examined at first reading within the framework of a parliamentary niche in the environmental group.

While saying “attached to the protection of abortion”the Senate Law Committee believes that“a constitutional revision is not necessary”. The group presidents of the senatorial majority, Bruno Retailleau (LR) and Hervé Marseille (centrist) are on the same line. “Everything will be decided in session”commented to AFP Mélanie Vogel recalling that political groups generally allow freedom to vote on societal subjects of this type.

“It’s not at all cosmetic and symbolic”

According to the Law Commission, the inclusion of a constitutional right to abortion and contraception “is not justified by the situation in our country”. “It imports a debate linked to the constitutional organization specific to the United States, very different from that of France”the commission said in a statement.

“It’s not at all cosmetic and symbolic”reacted Mélanie Vogel. “It is not to display the importance of a right, it is to prevent regressive laws in practice”she pointed out. “No one may infringe the right to voluntary termination of pregnancy and contraception. The law guarantees to any person who so requests free and effective access to these rights”according to the text proposed by the environmental group.

The debate should rebound at the end of November in the National Assembly, similar bills being part of the texts that the LFI and Renaissance groups wish to include on the agenda, within the framework of their respective reserved spaces.