• The very conservative Supreme Court on Friday buried a judgment which, for nearly half a century, guaranteed the right of American women to abortion but had never been accepted by the religious right.

  • The decision was widely condemned in France, from left to right.

    The new president of the LREM group in the Assembly, Aurore Bergé announced that she was filing "a constitutional bill to include respect for abortion in our Constitution".

  • A measure that is (almost) consensus, on the right as on the left.

Should we go further to protect the right to abortion in France?

While the Supreme Court of the United States has authorized American states to ban this medical practice, the Renaissance group (ex-LREM) announced on Saturday the filing of a bill aimed at including the right to abortion in the marble of the French Constitution.

"Unfortunately, nothing is impossible and women's rights are always rights which are fragile and which are regularly called into question", explained the leader of LREM deputies, Aurore Bergé, who therefore considers it necessary to take hexagon "provisions so that we cannot have reversals tomorrow which could exist".

In France, the right to abortion is protected by the law of January 17, 1975, also called Loi Veil.

"The recent legislative elections remind us that the political balance is fragile, and that this law could one day be threatened", write, in a column published by the

Journal du Dimanche

, 400 lawyers including Me Karen Noblinski, Julie Couturier, Vincent Nioré, and Rachel-Flore Pardo.

They add that the decision of the American Supreme Court “also raises the question of the guarantee of this right in France where nearly 230,000 women have recourse each year to abortion”.

According to them, “nothing is more urgent than to strengthen this right by enshrining it in the Constitution!

»

“It is a supreme right” 

An opinion shared by the High Council for Equality.

According to this independent advisory body attached to the Prime Minister, it is urgent "to include the right to abortion in our French Constitution", as well as in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, "to guard against any attempt to interfere with women's rights.

“It is a supreme, fundamental right, which must be protected by a superior text.

It allows women to act in society, to be equal to men”, also believes the president of the Women's Foundation, Anne-Cécile Mailfert.

"A simple law is, for us, both fragile and does not symbolically represent what is the right to abortion and the freedom of women to dispose of themselves", she explains to

20 Minutes

.

Friday evening, the leader of the Insoumis deputies, Mathilde Panot, had also announced that she would propose to the left alliance Nupes “to file a bill to include the right to abortion in the Constitution”.

A constitutional revision requires the adoption of the same text by the Assembly and the Senate, then it must be approved by referendum.

On the other hand, if the revision was initiated by the executive, or taken over by it, the text must also be validated by the two chambers but can be submitted to the Parliament meeting in Congress, which must vote on it by a majority of 3/5ths. votes cast.

“Is it useful to the country?

»

The LREM proposal to include the right to abortion in the Constitution is supported by the Prime Minister, Élisabeth Borne.

While it seemed to be unanimous within the political class (with the obvious exception of the National Rally), François Bayrou, president of the MoDem and ally of Emmanuel Macron, distanced himself from the approach on Sunday.

“Is it useful for the country, at the moment, to go and organize a referendum on this question?

he wondered on BFM TV.

“It has to be done now precisely because the threats are not yet at a high point.

The day we have a national assembly and a senate opposed to abortion, it will be too late to make this change in the constitution,” concludes Anne-Cécile Mailfert.

Company

Women's rights: The inclusion of the right to abortion in the Constitution demanded by 400 lawyers

World

United States: Associations and political leaders deplore the revocation of the right to abortion by the Supreme Court

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