After the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States to revoke the right to abortion, the subject was invited into political discussions in France. Worried about the “setbacks” observed in the world, “including in Europe with the far right”, Elisabeth Borne defended, this Wednesday, the bill aimed at registering the “fundamental right” to voluntary termination of pregnancy in the Constitution and in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. A project announced by the government this weekend.
“Right now we see that there are regressions, history is starting to move in the wrong direction,” lamented the Prime Minister, who visited this Wednesday the headquarters of Family Planning in the 11th arrondissement in Paris. Referring to the situation in the United States, she felt that it was “a very severe warning, and it shows us that nothing is ever certain on women’s rights”.
Concern over the “rise of conservatism”
Accompanied by the Minister Delegate for Equality between Women and Men, Isabelle Rome, the Head of Government discussed with associations and health professionals, who welcomed the desire to “sacralize” the right to IVG (voluntary interruption of pregnancy), even if it would not be threatened today in France. “But we cannot imagine what will happen in the next few decades. We must act as long as this consensus exists in France, ” pleaded lawyer Karen Noblinski.
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“It’s not when the house is burning that you take out insurance,” metaphorized Anne-Cécile Mailfert, president of the Women’s Foundation. “We are worried about the rise of conservatism in our country, not just in the United States,” added Clémence Pajot, director of the National Federation of Information Centers on the Rights of Women and Families.
The health professionals present were moved by the “heterogeneity” of access to abortion in the territory, with women “forced to move from department to department, who sometimes have to travel 50-60 km”, said underlined Sarah Durocher, National Co-President of Family Planning. Gynecologist Laurence Danjou, president of the National Association of Abortion and Contraception Centres, warned of growing difficulties in accessing “instrumental abortion”, the share of which has been reduced in favor of medical abortion, “not indicated for all women”.
A “political diversion”
Invited to speak on this majority bill this Wednesday morning on France info, Marine Le Pen considered that it was a “political diversion” on the part of LREM, which “does not want the focus is placed on the main concerns of the French”. “The right to abortion is not questioned by anyone,” insisted the president of the National Rally group in the National Assembly.
Asked about the positions taken by several RN deputies comparing abortion to genocide, Marine Le Pen replied: “There is a political movement, this political movement determines a political line which is voted by the members, it is I have been wearing it for 10 years”. “The line of the movement is very clear: we have never questioned access to abortion,” she added.
“Everyone can have their opinion on subjects which are sensitive subjects, subjects of society, which I have always said, moreover, that they should be settled by referendum”, continued Marine Le Pen. “That there are people who are not happy to see that there are still 200,000 abortions a year in France is not open to criticism, no one can be happy about that,” she said. added.
As for the possibility of a constitutional amendment to include this right, the president of the RN did not position herself against it, but felt that there would be “a lot of things to put in it: we would like to integrate the rights of foreigners, the abolition of jus soli, the modification of the conditions of access to French nationality, the superiority of the Constitution over international texts, ”replied the MP for Pas-de-Calais.
In an interview with the newspaper Le Figaro published this Wednesday, Marine Le Pen specifies that if there were to be a vote in Parliament, she would leave elected RNs “in the Hemicycle a freedom to vote. Even if I know that the quasi-unanimity of the deputies will vote on the line of the movement, ”she adds.