“A historic day” for Éric Dupond-Moretti.
Senators voted on Wednesday for the inclusion of abortion in the Constitution, as did the deputies at the end of January.
“I want to finally say that this fundamental freedom for women to dispose of their bodies will enter our Constitution,” reacted the Minister of Justice on Thursday morning on franceinfo.
“Women are free, it was important that both assemblies said so,” he added.
The inclusion of abortion in the Constitution will establish that abortion is a “freedom guaranteed to women”, explained the minister.
Concretely, this means “that we will no longer be able to touch the Veil law and that we will not be able to drastically modify the rules that already govern”, particularly on abortion deadlines, he clarified. .
However, this “does not mean that we can free ourselves from the law” nor that it becomes “an enforceable law”.
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“We’re going to celebrate”: bursts of joy after the senators’ “yes” to the inclusion of abortion in the Constitution
However, the vote had been made very uncertain by the reluctance of the right.
The President of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, had expressed his opposition several times, believing that the right to abortion “is not threatened in France”.
Ultimately 267 senators voted for and 50 against.
“I want to thank Gérard Larcher for his frankness,” said Éric Dupond-Moretti.
On these texts, we must respect all convictions.
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“Immediately, abortion is not threatened”
The Minister of Justice said he had called and “discussed” with reluctant senators “to convince them with legal arguments”.
For example, he told them “that the freedom of conscience of doctors and midwives was already guaranteed by a decision of the Constitutional Council but that the voluntary termination of pregnancy was not, and therefore that it was appropriate that it was essential to enshrine this in the Constitution.”
On the other hand, “there is the fear that this freedom will be discussed tomorrow, by others”, added Éric Dupond-Moretti, for whom we should therefore not “wait until abortion is threatened to react”.
“Abortion is not immediately threatened, but it should not be,” he insisted, because according to him there are threats coming from “politicians and civil society”.
Also read “A decisive step” towards the inclusion of abortion in the Constitution: behind the scenes of the “yes” of the Senate
The text on which the two chambers agreed, “it is a co-construction (…) it was not done by forceps”, rejoiced Éric Dupond-Moretti.
It is also a text in which “many feminists” were involved, whom the Minister of Justice would like to thank.
“But there are also men who are sensitive to women’s freedom,” he insisted, recalling that the Senate is made up of a majority of men.
A Congress will be convened this Monday in Versailles to ratify the inclusion of abortion in the Constitution.
“There should be no difficulties” regarding the vote, according to the Minister of Justice.
France will then become the first country in the world to constitutionalize abortion.
“It is the universal vocation of France,” he declared.