The constitutional bill will be presented before the end of the year. Sarah Durocher hailed a victory but clarified that there remain other projects, in particular that of simplifying the procedure.
In the morning, Emmanuel Macron announced on the social network X a constitutional bill aiming to include voluntary termination of pregnancy (abortion) in the Constitution and presented “by the end of the year”. The president of family planning, Sarah Durocher, welcomed Sunday October 29 on franceinfo a “victory of the feminists”which would allow “to include abortion as a fundamental right”, “to prevent conservative policies from attacking this right”and to show that “constitutionalizing the right to abortion is possible” to other countries in the world. However, other projects remain, on the Veil law for example (theoi of January 17, 1975 which governs the decriminalization of abortion in France), “remove the conscience clause” and simplify the procedure.
franceinfo: Why is it necessary to include abortion in the Constitution?
Sarah Durocher: The first reason is that it would make abortion a fundamental right. The second is that in European countries where the extreme right comes to power, one of the things attacked is abortion. For us, there would be no French exception! This therefore means that if politicians want to question abortion, it will be more complicated.
Finally, the third reason is that feminists around the world are looking at France, which would be the first country to constitutionalize the right to abortion. This would provide a very important sounding board, it would show that it is possible.
Is access to abortion not the real priority for you?
For us, it’s a continuum. The entry of abortion into the Constitution requires politicians to protect this right.
“On a daily basis, the right is not threatened but access is very threatened in France”
Sarah Durocherat franceinfo
We should continue to work on the Veil law, for example, remove the conscience clause from the right to abortion and make it easier for women to have just one appointment to have an abortion, instead of three.
Wouldn’t it have been better to go through a referendum, rather than a bill?
We were quite confident because the majority of French people are in favor of the right to abortion and its inclusion in the Constitution. Afterwards, we are in a political context which makes it complicated to get the French to vote. And we know that anti-choice movements can mobilize greatly in relation to this, because they have means… Means, which we do not have. Afterwards, a Congress is faster than a referendum, but there will be an issue because during the vote in Congress, 555 parliamentarians are needed to vote for the entry of abortion into the Constitution. And it’s not won!