Abortion: why is inclusion in the Constitution long overdue?

«Élisabeth Borne, where did the long-promised text of the constitutionalization of the right to abortion go? “, La France Insoumise MP Mathilde Panot challenged on Twitter by supporting Democratic Representatives arrested in Washington this week after a demonstration near the Supreme Court.

The agenda for the next public sessions of the National Assembly was published on Tuesday 19 July, until 7 August, the date on which the parliamentary session will end. In the famous “green sheet” (so it is called in the jargon because, hold on, it is GREEN), we therefore find the various files that will be examined in the coming weeks, now that the thorny dossier of the bill on purchasing power is been voted on. And the question of including the right to abortion in the Constitution clearly does not appear there.

Is the inclusion of abortion in the Constitution still an important issue for the government?

Are there any reasons to worry? Renaissance (formerly LREM) reacted very quickly the day after Roe vs. Wade from the Supreme Court at the end of June, cutting the carpet under the Nupes, but he has been carrying on this claim for several years. Two bills had been presented by deputies Lrem and Nupes, then another in the Senate. While he has his hand on the agenda, Has the government become cautious and does not want to speed up the process?

On July 13, PS Senator Laurence Rossignol urged Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne to quickly grasp the subject and present a bill :

“It is not the Parliament that has the easiest initiative regarding the reform of the Constitution. The approach, the most effective procedure, is that of the bill. So, Madam Prime Minister, my question is very simple and I ask you solemnly: are you thinking of putting a bill on the agenda to definitively guarantee the right to abortion and contraception in the Constitution? “

Following the response of the Minister of Justice, Laurence Rossignol reiterated her speech to the head of the government, reminding her that it would be in her interest to exploit the consensus on this issue:

“I understood that you were looking for the majorities of the project, I propose one right now, a good majority of the project that would allow you to make a bill, and why I insist on the bill, because the private initiative procedure does not will be successful.

Nobody wants a referendum on access to abortion.

The only solution so that your commitments are concrete, so that your mandate in Matignon is not simply a mandate from a second female Prime Minister but that of a second female Prime Minister who has advanced women’s rights, I ask again, to make a bill. “

The bill would cancel the six-week deadline between the presentation of the text of a bill by a parliamentary group and its examination, he recalls The cross.

And as Senator PS perfectly explains, a bill would require a vote in the National Assembly and then in the Senate, before relying on the referendum vote.

If 81% of French people are in favor of including the right to abortion in the Constitution, according to an Ifop survey, this route does not seem to be the most suitable, much less the fastest. It would also be a perfect opportunity for anti-abortionists and reactionaries to occupy the media field.

Without a constitutional bill, it is therefore clear that the inclusion of the right to abortion in the Constitution is not an issue that will have its place in the hemicycle this summer. “The text will therefore not be examined before the parliamentary session in October, unless a new extraordinary session is scheduled by that date”according to France Info.

Photo credit: Matt Hrkac from Geelong / Melbourne, Australia, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons