The Senate voted on February 1 to include the “freedom of women to terminate pregnancy” in the Constitution, while the initial text carried by the left mentioned a “right to voluntary termination of pregnancy”.
“My conviction as a woman, a citizen and a parliamentarian is that before the end of the mandate, the Constitution will have been modified and will integrate the right to abortion”assures Aurore Bergé, president of the Renaissance group in the National Assembly, Monday February 6 on franceinfo. “We are talking about it with the President of the Republic and with the Prime Minister”she assures, four days after the vote of the Senate in favor of the inclusion in the Constitution of the “freedom of women” to resort to voluntary termination of pregnancy.
The senators spoke out following the deputies, who approved in November a constitutional bill to engrave abortion in the fundamental law. However, they changed the wording, prompting criticism. The version adopted at the Luxembourg Palace evokes the “freedom of women” to resort to abortion, when that adopted at the Bourbon Palace speaks of a “right”.
“We received intimidation again”
“I don’t want there to be a battle of ragpickers to decide which is the best text, the best text is the one that has a chance of winning a majority in the Assembly and the Senate so that at the end of our mandate, the Constitution has been amended”, comments Aurore Bergé. If the two chambers agree on the same wording, it will be up to the president whether or not to give the green light to a referendum on the subject.
The member for Yvelines doubts, however, that this is the best way to do it. “There is a real debate, including for those like me who are very attached to this right, to say to themselves ‘wouldn’t the referendum take the risk of reopening debates that we do not want to see reopened in our country ?'”. During the vote in the National Assembly, “we received intimidation again, threats, I received a small dismembered plastic baby”she assures.
To include abortion in the Constitution, there is another option, which does not require organizing such a consultation. This solution, “more reasonable”would be for the government to take matters into its own hands with “a constitutional bill”. “We know today, with the vote of the Senate, that we have a three-fifths majority” in Parliament, essential for this text to be adopted during a Congress bringing together deputies and senators, she underlines.