“The conditions for victory in the Senate are there”, according to an environmentalist senator

While the text is examined on Wednesday in the Senate, Mélanie Vogel displays her optimism despite the “tactics of part of the right to make it fail”.

“The Conditions of Victory” to see the inclusion of abortion in the Constitution in the Senate “are there”, said environmentalist senator Mélanie Vogel on Wednesday February 28 on franceinfo. Senators must decide on the inclusion in the Constitution of a “guaranteed freedom” to abortion, a decisive step marked by the reluctance of the right.

“Despite indeed some reversals and tactics from part of the right to defeat the text, the conditions for victory are there”, the senator rejoiced. While the bill, passed by the Assembly, plans to include in the Constitution the fact that “the law determines the conditions under which the freedom guaranteed to a woman to have recourse to a voluntary termination of pregnancy is exercised”an amendment to delete the word “guarantee”, for the benefit of a simple “freedom”, is defended by part of the right and centrists. SIf the text is modified in the upper house, it will go back for a new reading in the Assembly.

The three leaders of the senatorial majority, namely the president of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, the boss of senators LR Bruno Retailleau and that of the centrist group Hervé Marseille are, in fact, opposed to the reform. “The last time” so in February 2023, “with these same positions, we managed to vote in favor of a text” the wording of which was already identical to that proposed by the government and adopted by the deputies, she underlined.

“There is a very clear desire in French society to see the right to abortion enshrined in the Constitution”defended the environmentalist senator. “We have managed to create a very strong penetration of this debate throughout French society around this subject,” she explained. Privately, several senators acknowledge that they have changed their minds and will not oppose the reform. What Senator Mélanie Vogel confirms: “A number of colleagues have changed their opinions by talking to people close to them.”