With the debate on abortion, the RN in full discomfort

• The RN, with its 89 deputies and deputies finds itself a little up against the wall in the face of the proposal to constitutionalize the right to abortion.

• If the RN officially defends the status quo on this issue, it has in its ranks, and in the Assembly, members who are very hostile to abortion.

• Marine Le Pen is condemned to the splits so as not to undermine her demonization enterprise….

  And not to lose the reactionaries who vote for her.

The RN arrived strong, triumphant, united, with 89 deputies in the National Assembly last Wednesday.

Behind Marine Le Pen, the far-right party appears to be one of the big winners of the legislative elections.

If he places himself in resolute opposition to Emmanuel Macron's project, he also wanted to be constructive, not to block everything on principle.

And now a quack comes to seize up this beautiful mechanism: the return of the debate on the voluntary interruption of pregnancy (IVG).

More precisely, the debate on its inclusion in its constitution, in reaction to the reversal of jurisprudence on abortion in the United States by the Supreme Court.

The desire to be constructive took a big hit.

“False problem!

"Distraction!"

“… Since Friday, the RN has not had enough… soft words to oppose the proposal of Nupes and Ensemble.

Mathilde Panot, the president of the rebellious group in the National Assembly, even proposed for a time that the constitutional bill be co-signed by all the groups in the lower house.

A good way to corner the RN.

“It is not entirely decent to import the problems experienced by the United States (…) In France, as far as I know, no political party is asking for it [the abolition of abortion, editor's note].

Even the National Rally does not ask for it ”, underlined Monday morning on France Info the deputy of Moselle, Laurent Jacobelli.

📹 @LJacobelli: "Fortunately, there is no problem on the issue of abortion in France. I have the impression that the majority has lit an opportunistic counterfire for communication purposes."

@franceinfo pic.twitter.com/lDutai08Z7

– National Rally (@RNational_off) June 27, 2022

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A long history of opposition to abortion

Yes, even the RN does not ask to reconsider abortion, enshrined in law in France since 1974 and confirmed in 1979. But – and this is where the problem lies – it is a rather recent fact for the main party of the French extreme right.

“This kind of question brings out that the RN is a far-right party, with all that it carries as a story”, thinks Gilles Ivaldi, researcher at Cévipof, specialist in the far right.

In the time of Jean-Marie Le Pen, the National Front was violently anti-abortion, under the powerful influence of traditionalist Catholics in the party.

In 2012, during her first presidential campaign, Marine Le Pen wanted to de-reimburse abortions to avoid what she called “comfort abortions”.

Since then, the strategy of "de-demonization" of the FN, which has become RN, has gone through this.

And the MP for Pas-de-Calais now takes a status quo position in her program: no questioning of abortion, nor of its coverage by Social Security.

But not more.

“Marine Le Pen has chosen to approach a model of far-right parties from northern Europe or Scandinavia, more liberal on questions of morals, recalls Gilles Ivaldi.

The objective is both to no longer close the door to a whole host of electorates, including women, but also to instrumentalize Islam again, pointed out as a danger for women, LGBT people, etc.

In fact, Marine Le Pen has considerably reduced the gap between the vote for men and the vote for women for her party.

She had also been relatively discreet during the debate on Marriage for all,

Reacs have not disappeared from the RN

If the National Rally of 2022 is no longer exactly the National Front of 2012, it is not a totally different party.

Far from there.

“Among the 89 RN deputies elected on June 19, there are people from the traditionalist far right”, notes Gilles Ivaldi.

All this fringe of the far right did not go to Eric Zemmour.

The researcher is also surprised that we have not commented more on “the very great heterogeneity of RN deputies.

Heterogeneity of the territories of election, of ideologies… On socio-economic questions, between the more redistributive RN in the North, and the more liberal RN in the South, but also on the question of values”.

The newspaper

also counted, on Monday, the RN parliamentarians opposed to abortion: Caroline Parmentier, the very close press adviser to Marine Le Pen, considers that the right to abortion is not a right women ;

Hervé de Lépinau (Vaucluse) and Laure Lavalette (Var), recent spokesperson for the RN, signed in 2014 an appeal to sponsor candidates who would undertake to repeal the law on abortion;

Christophe Bentz (Haute-Marne) speaks of abortion as a “mass genocide”.

Three RN MEPs now MPs voted in 2021 against an EU resolution calling for "universal access to legal and safe abortion".

Still others do not seem very keen on constitutionalizing access to abortion.

The big gap

In contrast, the RN deputy for Reims, Anne-Sophie Frigout, explains to

to be "for women's rights and to defend against abortion".

She judges the proposal of the majority and the left "demago" when she would like us to look at the question of "real access to care and abortion for women throughout the country. ".

A subject carried by many feminist associations.

In this position, is she comfortable at the RN?

" Yes.

Anne-Sophie Frigout, who may not have yet taken the time to discuss further with her colleagues mentioned above, has "not at all the impression that [her] party is divided on this question ".

At this level, however, we have the impression that the extent of the opinions of RN deputies on the question will heavily solicit the adductors of Marine Le Pen.

So much so that it is the question of the management of sudden parliamentary growth,

Can Marine Le Pen afford not to sign a proposed constitutional law submitted to her on the subject, at the risk of starting to crack the unity of her group?

“Politically, it would be complicated.

This would mark, from the start of the legislature, a major difference on a symbolic issue of values.

However, Marine Le Pen's main concern is credibility, ”said Gilles Ivaldi.

Without any, Marine Le Pen has the means to impose discipline on her group today.

But the snake to swallow for some and some is still of a very good size.

Which raises the question of whether the head of the RN will be able to impose such discipline in the long term.

The history of the party and the extreme right – made up of splits, divisions and permanent rivalries – does not plead for it.

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