“No woman resorts to abortion out of joy, you just have to listen to women”, declared Simone Veil on November 26, 1974, in her historic speech to defend the bill on voluntary termination of pregnancy. Nearly fifty years later, his words still resonate, as the right to abortion entered the Constitution on Monday, March 4. A major breakthrough which is a world first and strengthens this crucial right. As a reminder, today, Parliament met in Congress to vote on the constitutional bill officially enshrining abortion in the Constitution. Feminists thus welcomed this historic event, as reported in particular by our colleagues from World, citing in particular the Women’s Foundation and several associations committed to women’s rights.
Nearly four years ago, the politician Clémentine Autain had mentioned, in the National Assembly, that the proposal to extend from twelve to fourteen weeks the legal deadline for resorting to abortion was made by the former LREM MP Albane Gaillot (and which she considered necessary, unlike the former Minister of Health Olivier Véran), her own experience with abortion. The member for La France insoumise spoke in the Hemicycle on October 8, 2020 on the subject. Personal statements made to convince his colleagues who were still divided on the issue. “Not only do I speak with women who have had abortions, but I had an abortion myself“, she explained (after two hours and forty-five hours of debate to be reviewed on the National Assembly website). Before adding: “And the moment of distress, I felt it the day I went to the gynecologist and theit was explained to me that there would not be room in time for me to have an abortion on time.”
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To have “unhindered access to abortion”
A strong testimony which responded to the intervention of Emmanuelle Ménard, related RN deputy opposed to the text. “When we talk with women who have had an abortion, in many cases, what emerges from their speeches is that they were guided towards this solution of abortion without really having had a choice”she declared, before Clémentine Autain replied that “nobody here [dans l’Assemblée nationale, NDLR] Don’t force women to abort.”. In her response, the member for La France insoumise went further in her argument. “To ensure that a certain number of them do not experience it as a tragedy, not only do we need to stop blaming thembut we must also provide the means in our country so that they can do so in dignified conditions, with social equality and equality between territories“, assured the elected official. Comments supported by LREM MP Aurore Bergé: “We are in this hemicycle a certain number of women who have had abortion, and we expect neither compassion, nor commiseration, nor in fact anything, we expect women to be able to experience their access to abortion without hindrance.”
Article written with the collaboration of 6Medias
Photo credits: Screenshot – National Assembly