Opposed to the constitutionalization of voluntary termination of pregnancy, these elected representatives of the upper house explain why they ultimately voted for it.
The contrast is spectacular. In February 2023, the Senate adopted by a narrow majority an amendment from Senator LR Philippe Bas aiming to include in the Constitution “the freedom of a woman to terminate her pregnancy”. At the time, 166 senators voted for and 152 against, including an overwhelming majority of Republicans. A year later, on February 28, the upper house this time voted very broadly (267 votes for and 50 against) the government text aimed at constitutionalizing “the guaranteed freedom of women to have recourse to a voluntary termination of pregnancy [IVG].”
Monday March 4, parliamentarians, meeting in Congress in Versailles, should definitively adopt the entry of abortion into the Constitution. Why did dozens of senators change their votes? Franceinfo asked five of them the question.
François Bonneau, centrist senator: “I spoke with quite a few people”
Like eleven other of his colleagues from the centrist Union group, François Bonneau changed his mind. “Sensitive to the arguments of the Senate jurists”, this elected official from Charente first voted against the constitutionalization of abortion, “the Constitution being a fragile building”. Then, the septuagenarian, who “discussed with elected officials” And “quite a few people” realized that “the balance between the risk of weakening the Constitution and the inalienable right of women to dispose of their bodies tipped in favor of the latter aspect.”
“I evolved and formed my own opinion. You have to have the humility to recognize that.”
François Bonneau, centrist senator from Charenteat franceinfo
“I did not want to leave any ambiguity on the fact that I was fully sensitive to this cause, to this women’s right”continues the senator.
Françoise Gatel, centrist senator: “A dominant opinion has won the battle of ideas, we must act on it”
“I will provide you with two paracetamol tablets, good luck”, smiles Françoise Gatel, just before hanging up the receiver. It is true that the position of the senator from Ille-et-Vilaine concerning her change of tack on the inclusion of abortion in the Constitution is not easy to follow. Basically, she still claims not to find “useful” this inscription, seeing above all “a symbol, even if it is an important symbol”.
Françoise Gatel is also concerned about “the little legal adventure” what does the introduction of the word represent “guarantee”. “It is legally uncertain since it means that we will have a requirement for results from the State. Today, the real subject for me is not the inclusion in the Constitution, but that the “we make this right effective by ensuring that the territorial coverage of centers practicing abortion is sufficient”develops the chosen one.
However, on February 28, the senator finally voted in favor. “There is a dominant opinion which has won the battle of ideas, it must be recognized. I noted that this text was going to pass, I take note of it, I was not going to vote against. Nor to abstain” . But the senator regrets that the legal debate was “inaudible”.
“For weeks and months we have been explaining that those who are hostile to the inclusion of abortion in the Constitution are horrible conservatives who are being blamed.”
Françoise Gatel, centrist senatorat franceinfo
“I may have had a moment of inconsistency during my vote on Wednesday,” she nevertheless lets slip, while assuring: “I will not change my position on Monday in Congress.”
Jean-François Husson, senator LR: “The Senate has made its voice heard on several occasions”
Like 39 of his Les Républicains colleagues in the Senate, Jean-François Husson voted in favor of the constitutional revision on Thursday, although he too was opposed to the inclusion of the “freedom” to resort to abortion in February 2023. How to explain the evolution of your vote on two similar texts? “Between the original ideas of the government, which first wanted to go through a referendum, and the final result, the Senate has made its voice heard on several occasions”supports the elected Les Républicains.
“The different times of the debate made it possible to correct the rough edges, and this is rather to the credit of representative democracy.”
Jean-François Husson, senator LRat franceinfo
For him, “There’s no need to hysterize society” by continuing to oppose this text. Especially since in his eyes, “we give the feeling of nitpicking over not much. I saw that public opinion was overwhelmingly in favor of this inclusion in the Constitution, and that it had difficulty understanding all the subtlety of our latest doubts”, he explains. In this context, there was “perhaps an unnecessary misunderstanding” which, according to him, had to be dissipated.
Sophie Primas, senator LR: “The French did not understand this position”
Like many of her colleagues, Sophie Primas initially refused to vote for the constitutionalization of the use of abortion. For her, “there was a consensus around the idea that the Constitution was not intended to list all the freedoms available to us in the law. I stuck to that in the first vote, I found it quite logical”, she remembers. A year later, the senator from Yvelines believes that “things have matured”.
Above all, the Ile-de-France parliamentarian considers that public opinion has evolved on this issue. “What emerges from the debate is that part of the press and feminists consider that if we are not in favor of this inclusion in the Constitution, we are against abortion”she breathes, hence her desire to clarify her position during Wednesday’s vote. “I could see that the French did not understand this position”she concedes.
“The French remained in this somewhat binary logic, ‘for or against abortion’. As I am really not against abortion, I voted for.”
Sophie Primas, LR senatorat franceinfo
With this vote, Sophie Primas salutes a “signal” with “a symbolic value”but fears that this one “will have no impact” on concrete access to possibilities of terminating a pregnancy. “It doesn’t solve anything. It barely protects us from a threat that isn’t real.” To his eyes, “true respect for women” passes through the presence “liberal gynecologists throughout France”.
Catherine Dumas, senator LR: “When you are a legislator, you must take into account developments in society”
In the political life of Catherine Dumas, one parameter changed between February 2023 and February 2024: she was re-elected senator of Paris last September. So in the countryside, a year ago she was in “a somewhat special moment”, remote “of this field”. “I did not go into the legal detail of the wording”, recognizes the parliamentarian, member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
In the meantime, the right-wing elected official has perceived a real “request” on the inclusion of abortion in the Constitution: “I have a lot of people who have come forward around me. When you are a legislator, you have to take into account developments in society”, she emphasizes, “completely convinced” of the need to protect this right hard-won by Simone Veil half a century ago. The senator also notes a change in perception at the Palais du Luxembourg since last year: “Having exchanged with certain colleagues, there is a changing perception of politicians. If women help men evolve, so much the better”, concludes the senator.