French National Assembly approves constitutional guarantee for abortion

The French National Assembly has approved a “guaranteed freedom" for women to access abortion, a step towards inscribing the right in the Constitution.

A rally to call for the include the right to abortion in the constitution, Paris, February 2023. © LUdovic Marin/AFP

After hours of debate, setting the majority coalition and the left against the right-wing Republicains on Wednesday evening, 99 lawmakers approved the constitutional amendment.

"The law determines the conditions in which are carried out the guaranteed freedom of a woman to turn to an abortion,” reads the proposed modification of article 34.

The formulation strikes a balance between a proposal passed by the National Assembly at the end of 2022 that would enshrine the “right” to abortion, and the Senate’s version a few months later that supported the concept of “freedom”.

The National Assembly will formally adopt the amendment next week, on 30 January, and it will then go to the Senate.

Any constitutional change needs to be adopted identically by the National Assembly and the Senate before being approved by three fifths of both chambers gathered together for a constitutional congress.

Mixed support

The National Assembly passed the amendment with votes from Macron’s Renaissance party, lawmakers from the left and those present from the centrist Liot coalition and two Republicains and two National Rally. Thirteen lawmakers voted against.

The debates hardened around amendments introduced by the Republicains to return the legal limit to access abortion to 12 weeks, compared to 14 weeks today.

The lawmakers expressed concerns that the “guaranteed freedom” formulation in the text would allow for an extension of the legal limit.

The revision would not create “an absolute and limitless right”, Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti said, addressing the chamber.

The government has suggested that a joint congress of both chambers could be convened on 5 March to vote on the amendment, which would mean the Senate would have to approve it by 28 February.

If the upper house approves a different formulation, the text will go back to the National Assembly, which will have to come up with another version that both chambers can agree on.

(with AFP)