The news was greeted with a standing ovation from a large part of the hemicycle.
The National Assembly has indeed spoken, Thursday, November 24, in favor of the inclusion of the right to abortion in the Constitution.
The text, the result of a transpartisan rewriting, is in one sentence: “The law guarantees the effectiveness and equal access to the right to voluntary termination of pregnancy.”
This proposal, formulated by the deputy LFI Mathilde Panot, was adopted by 337 votes against 32. And this, not without clashes.
The debate, which lasted five hours, was indeed tense with the right and the extreme right, the latter having tabled hundreds of amendments.
La France insoumise nevertheless rejoiced at this “historic victory for women in France and in the world”, as declared by Mathilde Panot.
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"The fight is not over"
The alterations made to the LFI proposal during the debates aim to respond to the reluctance of some MEPs, linked to the disputed mention of the right to contraception in a first version, and to a wording which raised fears of the establishment of a right to "unlimited" abortion.
However, there is still a long way to go for this inclusion of the right to abortion in the highest norm of the legal order to be effective, because it requires the approval of the Senate in particular.
A new ordeal by fire which could prove to be difficult.
In mid-October, the senators had rejected - with 139 votes for, and 172 against - a similar text carried by the ecologist Mélanie Vogel.
The senatorial majority, predominantly LR, is not in favor of this measure.
"The fight is not over," said MP MoDem Erwan Balanant after the adoption of the text in the National Assembly.
A “great gesture”
Aurore Bergé, leader of the Renaissance deputies, for her part decided to withdraw her own text on the constitutionalization of the right to abortion.
A "very great gesture", greeted the Keeper of the Seals Éric Dupond-Moretti, who said his "emotion" after the vote.
In front of the deputies, Aurore Bergé gave poignant testimony, recounting that her mother had had an abortion which "did not go very well", "at a time when it was illegal in our country".
Despite this success in the Assembly, Mathilde Panot, like many deputies, urged the government to introduce its own bill to constitutionalize abortion.
A text coming from the government would also need to obtain the approval of the Senate but, unlike a proposal for a parliamentary initiative, it would not ultimately be subject to a referendum.
A dreaded ordeal, as it could, some warn, mobilize anti-abortion networks.
