The French president, Emmanuel Macron, announced this Wednesday the upcoming presentation of a bill to register abortion “in the coming months” in the national Constitution.
The objective of the measure is “defend the freedom of women to dispose of their bodies and their lives“, Macron said when making the announcement, during a national tribute at the Palace of Justice to the lawyer and deputy Gisèle Halimi.
This jurist dedicated her work to the fight for women’s rights and played an important role in the legalization of abortion in 1975 and in the classification of rape as a crime.
Macron said that the inclusion in a constitutional reform seeks “to solemnly assure that nothing can hinder or undo” lthe possibility of resorting to abortion, “to make it irreversible”, and also “to send a universal message of solidarity with all the women who today see that freedom trampled on.”
The announcement was hailed as a “victory” by several feminist organizations, such as the Women’s Foundation or Family Planning.
The idea of including the right to abortion in the Constitution began to emerge in France after the Supreme Court of the United States last year eliminated the constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy throughout the country.
The two chambers of Parliament have begun to debate different legislative projects, so Macron’s announcement may help define a single text. In the Senate, controlled by the conservatives of the Los Republicanos party, the version of the text indicates the “freedom” to resort to abortion.
For this reason, several left-wing deputies and senators warned that Macron’s announcement still does not make it completely clear if what he seeks to guarantee at the constitutional level is “the right” o “freedom”which for them are different concepts.