The work of the legislator is imbued with technique. He writes the law, weighs the weight of each comma. But the symbolic charge of a text can overwhelm these considerations. Politics then replaces the legal, to the point of erasing it. This is the case with the inclusion of voluntary termination of pregnancy (abortion) in the Constitution. The right has never been enthusiastic about this reform. Elected Republicans (LR) often consider it useless, sometimes dangerous. Useless, because the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Council already protects this right. Dangerous, because it would create a precedent: if abortion enters our fundamental law, why not include all the societal rights cherished by public opinion?
And yet, a growing fringe of LR elected officials are resigned to this change. The deputies of the right party did not obstruct the adoption of the constitutional bill in January, expected this Wednesday, February 28 in the Senate. “The law determines the conditions under which the freedom guaranteed to women to have recourse to a voluntary termination of pregnancy is exercised,” states the text voted at the Palais Bourbon. It must be adopted in the same terms as in the National Assembly to pave the way for the meeting of Congress, where a 3/5 majority must be reached.
“Social pressure” on senators
The right has a majority in the Senate. In February 2023, only 16 LR senators approved a proposed constitutional law (PPLC) on abortion, adopted thanks to an alliance between left and centrists. Time has done its work. Many LR senators have changed their minds and are resigned to modifying the Constitution. All noted how opposition to this reform is equated with hostility towards abortion. Legal reservations are suspected of being the guise of shameful conservatism. The law, a pretext to hide one’s intentions.
No elected official has forgotten the outcry caused by the President of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, guilty of having assured France Info on January 23 that the Constitution was not a “catalogue of social and societal rights”. And too bad if he had just reaffirmed his attachment to this right and worried about the closure of 130 centers dedicated to abortion. “People remembered that Larcher was against abortion. This made senators think, notes an LR executive. Politically, we cannot oppose a revision.” The boss of LR senators, Bruno Retailleau, hostile to the reform, detects “social pressure” in this change. “There would only be one respectable opinion. But the honor of a political leader is to have convictions and to stick to them, insists the Vendéen. I do not vote with the polls.” 86% of French people are in favor of the entry of abortion into the Constitution, according to an Ifop poll carried out in November 2022.
Between resignation and maneuvers
Opposing the popular will has a cost. In the Senate, the case is heard: there is no majority to sweep away the executive text. “The battle is no longer about the constitutionalization of abortion. But about: in what terms?”, summarizes Hauts-de-Seine senator Roger Karoutchi. This is where it gets complicated. Fatalism does not prevent maneuvers. Two amendments to the government text will be examined this Wednesday. Their adoption would restart an uncertain parliamentary shuttle. The first proposes adding respect for the conscience clause of doctors to the text. The second, the work of senator Philippe Bas, prefers the consecration of a simple “freedom” to that of a “guaranteed freedom”. The elected official from Manche fears that this adjective will create an enforceable right to abortion (could open the way to litigation) and disrupt the balance of the Veil law, a compromise between the rights of women and those of unborn child.
On February 1, 2023, this amendment was adopted to everyone’s surprise in the Senate during the examination of the PPLC. Bruno Retailleau then stormed against this “superfluous” text, which had saved the day of the executive. A year later, the boss of the LR senators co-signed the Bas amendment, promising to vote for it… but to oppose the constitutionalization of abortion during the final vote. “It’s the choice of the lesser evil,” he defends to L’Express. “It is preferable, if the text is to pass, that it does not contain the term ‘guarantee’.” Here is the right with a reversed front. The Bas amendment was a divine surprise for the executive in 2023, it now threatens its reform. Bruno Retailleau is ready to vote for an amendment that he disapproves of… to limit damage. The balance of power has changed.
Want to move on
Blessed is he who can predict Wednesday’s vote. But the little music of a “compliant” vote rises in the ranks of the Senate. Many LR elected officials want to put an end to this soap opera, weariness is gaining ground. “We must not fall into legalism to push back the deadline, annoys a senator. We must make the debate a non-subject and vote in accordance. Otherwise it will drag on during the European elections.” IVG and Europeans: the right knows the song too well. In 2019, the head of the list LR François-Xavier Bellamy had disturbed his camp by assuming his opposition to abortion, “a personal conviction”, while ensuring that he did not want to call into question the Veil law.
This outing had cost him points. The MEP has since been careful not to let himself be confined on these societal issues, preferring to discuss his results in Strasbourg. The man has little interest in abortion ruining his countryside. “Certain LRs want to annoy the majority, but they risk putting themselves in the trap,” notes a minister. “It’s absurd. They would do better to purge the subject.” And avoid scoring against their side, thinking of aiming for the opponent’s cage.
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