Inclusion of abortion in the Constitution: why associations remain vigilant
Abortion will indeed be enshrined in the French Constitution. It is that the President of the Republic announcedthis Wednesday, March 8, paying tribute to the feminist Gisele Halimi, on International Women’s Day. “Today I want to engrave the freedom of women to resort to voluntary termination of pregnancy (…). To solemnly assure that nothing can hinder or undo what will thus be irreversible, ”said Emmanuel Macron in the Paris courthouse.
“This is a big step towards securing the right to abortion in France and an exemplary step forward for the rest of the world”, greeted Sylvie Pierre-Brossolette, president of the High Council for Equality shortly after. This initiative would make France the very first country in the world to bring in abortion in the Constitutionwhich guarantees fundamental rights and freedoms, as well as the methods of their protection.
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” The term right would have made the state more responsible”
But feminist associations remain vigilant. It has not escaped them that the President has spoken of “freedom” and not of “right”. “Words matter. The term right would have made the State more responsible, by forcing it to mobilize real means to guarantee the effectiveness of access to abortion”, points out Violaine de Filippis-Abate, lawyer and spokesperson for the association Osez le féminisme . Indeed, the Family Planning estimates that, for fifteen years, 130 abortion centers have closed their doors on the territory, making it more difficult access to this medical procedure.
The La Clef association (French Coordination for the European Women’s Lobby), on its Twitter account, also ticks on this presidential nuance: “La Clef will be attentive to the evolution of this bill so that it goes as far as the effective registration of the right to abortion”.
“Yes, words are important, abounds Pauline Baron, spokesperson for the feminist collective #NousToutes. A freedom is not a right. It is much less strong in a Constitution, less safe”.
