The Assembly is preparing again on Wednesday to debate the inclusion of abortion in the Constitution with a view to a Congress of Parliament in early March, a path which could be hampered in the Senate by the reluctance of the right and the president Gérard Larcher.
In the middle of the afternoon, the political forces will take the podium one after the other, the vast majority in support of the government's text, which aims to prevent challenges to abortion as in the United States.
He will be defended by several ministers including the Minister of Justice Éric Dupond-Moretti.
The deputies will stick to a debate and the examination of the hundred amendments tabled, and the solemn vote will take place on January 30.
Adoption should not pose a problem for the Assembly, already largely favorable at the end of 2022 to a proposal from Mathilde Panot (LFI) going in the same direction.
She planned to establish a “
right
” for abortion.
A few months later, the senators adopted their wording in a much closer vote, enshrining a “
freedom
” rather than a “
right
”.
For a constitutional revision to be adopted by the meeting of the two chambers of Congress, they must accept the same formulation, the Assembly not having for once the last word.
“
Each chamber has a sort of veto over the other
,” summarizes the rapporteur to the Assembly Guillaume Gouffier Valente (Renaissance).
What case law?
To find a way forward, the government will propose its wording: enshrine the “
guaranteed
” freedom of recourse to abortion.
“
The objective
” is neither to “
freeze current legislation, nor to create a form of totally absolute law
”, tried to reassure Éric Dupond-Moretti, in particular to some of the divided Republicans.
“
This is the most legally sound wording
,” insists the rapporteur.
But, for some on the right, it would on the contrary make it possible to extend, for example, the legal duration without the Constitutional Council having to say anything about it.
Such wording “
increases the chances that, if tomorrow a parliamentary majority unfavorable to abortion attempts to change the conditions - deadline, reimbursement -, the Constitutional Council will feel justified in censoring this law.
But we cannot say with certainty that he would do so
,” analyzes Stéphanie Hennette-Vauchez, professor of public law (Paris Nanterre).
“
If a law changes the legal deadlines for an abortion, the Constitutional Council could judge it to be compliant.
But he could also say that it is not compliant, arguing that at the time when the Constitution was modified, the deadline was 14 weeks
,” explains Laureline Fontaine, professor of constitutional law (Sorbonne Nouvelle).
On the RN side, positions are also shared.
Thirty-eight deputies including Marine Le Pen had voted for the LFI text (23 against), but several elected officials should still maintain on Wednesday that abortion is not threatened in France and that the revision is not necessary.
“
It is precisely at times when there is a strong consensus
” among the population “
that it must be included in the Constitution
”, retorts Mathilde Panot, accusing “
the National Rally
”, but also anti-abortion demonstrators like those who marched in Paris on Sunday, to pose a threat to this right.
"
Clumsy
"
More problematic for the government, the influential LR President of the Senate Gérard Larcher said on Tuesday that he was opposed to the constitutionalization of abortion, also arguing that it “
is not threatened
” in France.
His position does not necessarily call into question the adoption in the Senate, but sends a clear message: the executive's calendar will not necessarily be that of the senators.
The government rushed in mid-December to propose a Congress in Versailles on March 5, to ratify the revision with a vote requiring 3/5th of the votes.
The senators had little taste for the announcement, which seemed to presuppose that the upper house would adopt the government's formulation.
By adopting a different wording, they would, on the contrary, restart the parliamentary shuttle.
Emmanuel Macron “
takes the risk of the failure of this text
” by proposing a different wording from the last one adopted in the Senate, assured the boss of LR deputies Olivier Marleix.
“
I think that announcing a Congress date from the start was clumsy
,” admitted Mr. Gouffier Valente on Tuesday on LCP.
“
If it is the week of March 8, symbolically, we will all be very happy, if it is in April, May, June or September that will be very good too
.”