Approving abortion in its constitution.. How did the French parties react?

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Paris -

After a long-term political and feminist battle, France - yesterday, Monday - became the first country in the world to explicitly include voluntary abortion (IVG) in its constitution, after the approval of an overwhelming majority of representatives and senators in Congress at the Palace of Versailles, amid applause. It lasted several minutes for a decision described as “historic.”

The passing of the final text of this decision was marked by an overwhelming majority vote, which exceeded by more than the three-fifths required to amend the text, as 780 parliamentarians voted in favor of it compared to only 72 opposing votes, most of whom belong to the right and extreme right.

Unlike the United States of America and Eastern European countries, Article 34 of the Constitution specifies “the conditions for exercising the freedom guaranteed to women to resort to voluntary termination of pregnancy,” and this step won praise from one group of the French people, while it was met with strong rejection from another group.

A French mother with her child in protest against considering abortion a constitutional right (Al Jazeera)

A day of mourning

Dozens of meters away from the Palace of Versailles, hundreds of demonstrators gathered to express their categorical rejection of the constitutionality of abortion, because it “punishes unborn children and deprives them of life,” directing at the same time harsh criticism of the French government, “which evades its responsibilities towards pregnant women,” as they put it. .

Nicolas Tardi-Joubert, head of the “For Life” organization that called for the demonstration, considered the vote on the text by a large majority “a defeat of thought, and a blatant rush towards reckless killing, in accordance with the agenda set by the far left and approved by the government, and supported by powerful pressure groups,” adding that “they” They want to silence us in order to control the future of entire generations.”

Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, Joubert said, "The government aims to facilitate access to abortion, instead of addressing the problems that pregnant women suffer from, and providing the necessary health and financial support to help them," stressing that "the path to honor begins with not complicity with the culture of death."

The head of the Catholic Family Association, Aline Vigornet, expressed her strong rejection of the constitutionality of guaranteeing freedom of abortion, “because we believe that the family is the place where we protect the weakest, and we do not agree to adopting the right to kill within our societies.”

Vigornet, who represents more than 25,000 Catholic families, pointed out in an interview with Al Jazeera Net that the prohibition of murder exists in all religions without exception, considering that “carrying white roses against Macron and his government is similar to white roses standing up to Nazism in the 1930s.” What do you say?

Alexie, a French obstetrician and gynecologist, explained, “Pregnant women usually feel fear at the beginning of pregnancy, which is normal, but what I find unacceptable or logical is not providing them with the necessary psychological assistance during this particular stage, as instead of doing so, "The government is considering giving the explicit right to kill their fetuses."

He continued by saying during his talk to Al Jazeera Net, "From my own experience, many of them tried to withdraw their decision to have an abortion, but that comes too late and is too late, and today, the government will bear this sin as well."

Opponents of the adoption of the right to abortion in a demonstration in Paris (Al Jazeera)

French pride

In front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, supporters of the constitutionality of abortion gathered in front of a giant screen to follow the events of the parliament session, raising the slogans “My body, my choice” and “Abortion is legal” in French, Spanish and English.

French President Emmanuel Macron also praised the result of the vote in a tweet on the “X” platform, saying, “French pride, a global message,” noting that the symbolic ceremony of sealing the constitution will be available to everyone on March 8, which coincides with International Women’s Rights Day.

It is noteworthy that the “Simonville” law issued in 1975 temporarily decriminalized abortion, and regulated it before making its provisions final in December 1979. Since that time, several texts have been presented guaranteeing the right to abortion, most notably the Social Security Financing Law of 2013. Which enables women to have free abortions, the most recent of which is the 2022 law that extended the legal period for resorting to abortion from 12 to 14 weeks.

White roses, in reference to mourning, were used in response to the approval of abortion as a constitutional right (Al Jazeera)

Political calculations

It seems that the constitutionality of abortion in France is not limited to being a societal issue only, as its calculations reach far beyond that. After welcoming the congressional vote from the President of the Republic and his supporters, the head of the far-right National Rally party, Jordan Bardella, regretted “the decline in women’s basic freedoms.”

Bardella added to local media, "The security of women in public places is declining under the weight of judicial laxity and high religious pressure, in addition to the difficulty of obtaining health care and medicine."

In a tweet on the X platform, the leader of the "Proud France" party, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, criticized Prime Minister Gabriel Attal's intention to make the initiatives of his party's representative, Mathilde Bannot, "invisible" during his speech, and described it as "pathetic."

When asked about the absence of Muslims residing in France from the demonstrations rejecting the abortion law, the Secretary-General of the Islamic Associations in Paris, Mohamed Heniche, was not surprised by this, explaining that “Muslims did not move 3 years ago against the separatism law that directly affects them, and the abortion law is considered against everyone. Regardless of religious beliefs."

Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, Hanish believes that the constitutionality of abortion is a “propaganda campaign” used by the government to divert the focus of public opinion from the most important matters in the country, and a “political competition” through which parties aim to attract the largest number of votes in the upcoming elections, especially the extreme right. "Who is expected to take over the reins of power soon."

The Secretary-General of the Islamic Societies pointed out that the transfer of power to the extreme right is the most prominent danger to mosques and the Muslim community, which has been suffering for more than 5 years from various types of restrictions and “Islamophobia.”

He concluded by saying, "Muslims are in a critical situation, and they do not have enough time to deal with problems that concern the entire French society and other religions, and they are trying to focus on the real problems that face them daily."

Source: Al Jazeera