has Marine Le Pen’s position on abortion always been so clear-cut?

“We have never questioned access to abortion“, assured Marine Le Pen on France Info, Wednesday, June 29. Has she always had such a clear position on the subject? In 2002, she campaigned with her father, Jean-Marie. At that time, the line of National Front is crystal clear. “Going against the common good of our country, the laws on abortion will be repealed“, said the program. A vision from which Marine Le Pen quickly detaches herself, notably in a book written in 2006. She explains there that she wishes to value “incentives” for “fight against abortion“.

In 2012, for her first candidacy for the presidential election, she proposes the dereimbursement of abortion for abortions called “of comfort“. His position then shocked French opinion, but served Marine Le Pen within his party. “At the time, she was still confronted with an old guard from the far right, and this issue of abortion, at the time, was one of the messages she sent to tell her old guard (… ): ‘The party changes, but I don’t forget some of our fundamental cultural traits’“, analyzes Gilles Ivaldiresearcher at CEVIPOF at Sciences Po.

For 10 years, the strategy of RN changed. The desire is to de-demonize the far right, especially around the issue of abortion. The candidate even made a mea culpa on comfort abortion during the 2022 presidential campaign. If her position is more modern on abortion, Marine Le Pen however opposed the extension of the deadline, and the inclusion of this right in the Constitution.