The Senate, dominated by the right-wing opposition, rejected on Wednesday a bill aimed at extending the legal deadline for abortion, voted on at first reading in the Assembly and placed on the agenda by PS senators .
The upper house voted by 201 votes in favor and 142 against a motion brought by Corinne Imbert on behalf of the Les Républicains group which resulted in the rejection of the text en bloc, cutting short the discussion of the articles.
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This rejection will not however prevent the continuation of the legislative course of the bill, the last word going to the National Assembly.
The LREM group of deputies has already announced its desire to put it back on the agenda.
Removal of the conscience clause
The text, "aimed at strengthening the right to abortion", plans to extend the legal period of access to abortion from 12 to 14 weeks of pregnancy (16 weeks of amenorrhea) to respond to a lack of practitioners and the gradual closure of abortion centers.
It also provides for the abolition of the conscience clause specific to abortion.
To address the issues of access to abortion, the bill still authorizes midwives to perform surgical abortions until the end of the tenth week of pregnancy, a provision already introduced, under conditions and on an experimental basis. , in the Social Security financing law for 2021.