Extension of the abortion period: the reform Macron did not want

Nicolas Beytout 10:46 am, December 02, 2021

EDITORIAL

The National Assembly adopted, late at night from Tuesday to Wednesday, a bill extending from 12 to 14 weeks the legal period for voluntary termination of pregnancy.

Heavily criticized on the right, the bill was not unanimous within the majority either.

Our editorialist Nicolas Beytout looks back on the curious history of this law which has yet to go through the Senate.

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2,000 women affected per year

More than a year ago, part of the majority (in fact its left wing) was moved by the situation of women who, every year, want to have an abortion but cannot because they missed the deadline. legal 12 weeks of pregnancy. They would be around 2,000 to be affected. Some give up, others will have abortions abroad, especially in the Netherlands where abortion is authorized for up to 22 weeks.

Never mind, to put an end to this distressing situation, the idea of ​​the deputies (largely conned by groups of feminist activists) is simple: we extend the period by two weeks (and therefore, to be clear, we increases the legal limit from 3 months to 3 and a half months).

A first bill is voted in this direction, but it is retoque in the Senate under rather gruesque conditions: the senators La République en Marche do not want it.

It is therefore the Socialists who take the leap, and of course fail against the right-wing majority.

Curtain.

A law voted against Macron's opinion

It is therefore this text, flunked for the first time in the Senate, which came back to the Assembly. It is a very classic course. In short, nothing curious, so far. What is surprising is that this law was voted by the En Marche majority against the advice of Emmanuel Macron. Last year, already, the Head of State was reserved and he expressed his embarrassment this summer in an interview with Elle magazine: "Abortion is an immense conquest for women and men, had he explained. But I measure the trauma of aborting. "

A few days ago, he took another step forward by declaring to

that "additional delays (going from 12 to 14 weeks) are not neutral".

These statements came just before the visit of the Head of State to Pope Francis.

One way of saying that he is downright hostile to this reform.

A trophy for the left wing of the Macronie

But here it is: Christophe Castaner, the boss of the LREM deputies kept it in the parliamentary calendar and he let his troops of the Assembly vote it. He is a leader of the caliber of those who follow their troops. And the reason why he lets himself be led in this way is that it allows this famous left wing of the macronia to hang a trophy in the category "societal reforms". There had been PMA for all, we add legal abortion up to 14 weeks. This is a signal from the left that can compensate a bit for the record of this president who, in their eyes, is decidedly on the right.

The text must now pass through the Senate.

As expected, Senators En Marche will not vote on it.

But there is something more curious still: the Socialists do not want it either.

They are tired of playing the back-up for an En Marche party that is not clear in its internal debates.

Assessment of the operation: the left of the Macronie votes a text against the opinion of the President of the Republic and part of the government, which says it is hostile to it but decides to do nothing to oppose it, all knowing that the reform has no chance of being adopted.

Reform deserves debate

One could understand this kind of little sleight of hand if it were a trivial matter.

But all the same, the faculty of medicine warned about the physical and psychological dangers that this represented for the woman (at 14 weeks, the fetus is much more developed).

And then, where to stop (the deadline had already been extended from 10 to 12 weeks 20 years ago).

All this surely deserves more than arrangements with parliamentary procedure and votes sent overnight.