A majority of the members of the French parliament appear to be in favor of a proposal to make the right to abortion part of the constitution. Following the historic US decision, the proposal will tear up the right to abortion.
Friday’s historic decision by the Supreme Court of the United States means that the nearly five-decade-long constitutional protection for abortions disappeared. Now it is instead up to the individual states to decide for themselves.
France was one of the US allies condemning the court decision, a decision that President Emmanuel Macron called a threat to women’s freedom.
Now Aurore Berge, party leader of Macron’s Republican party on the way, has announced a bill to make abortion law part of the French constitution.
There is probably a majority
According to her, the law should function as a kind of insurance against right-wing extremist National Assembly, which she considers to be “tough opponents of abortion”.
– Women’s rights are always fragile and are threatened on a regular basis, says Berge in an interview with the radio channel France Inter.
The initiative is given a thumbs up by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, who says that the government will “wholeheartedly” support it.
Leading left-wing politicians also welcome what is called the government’s “u-turn” and send an invitation to other like-minded party groups to jointly produce a legal text.
If the left-wing alliance Nupes does something in common with Macron’s coalition together, it would mean that it has a significant majority in parliament.
Question the necessity
The National Assembly has a long tradition of abortion resistance, but its current leader Marine Le Pen has profiled herself as a women’s rights defender who supports the right to terminate a pregnancy.
Party spokesman Philippe Ballard told France Info that Le Pen had never questioned French law in the area.
Another of the party’s representatives, Jordan Bardella, claims that the proposal is a way for the government to divert attention away from issues such as purchasing power and immigration.
Bruno Retailleau, group leader of the right-wing Republican Party in the Senate, has a similar view.
– In order to hide their inability to sort out the country’s real problems, the parliamentary majority chooses to invent fictitious ones, he says.
Under French law, abortions are allowed until week 14.