Senator LR Philippe Bas tabled an amendment on Friday January 27 to completely rewrite the bill aimed at including the right to abortion in the Constitution which will be debated on Wednesday in the hemicycle of the Senate, with a majority on the right.
“Freedom” rather than “right”
In this proposal for a new wording, the senator from La Manche, who was one of Simone Veil’s close collaborators, replaces the notion of “right» that of «freedom“.
The LFI deputies’ constitutional bill, passed at first reading at the end of November by the Assembly with the support of the presidential majority, was placed on the Senate’s agenda next Wednesday, as part of a “nicheparliamentary reserved for the Socialist Group. It was rejected in committee on Wednesday by senators. The Senate had already rejected in October a previous environmental bill aimed at constitutionalizing abortion.
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The text voted by the deputies, the result of a transpartisan rewriting, is contained in one sentence: “The law guarantees the effectiveness and equal access to the right to voluntary termination of pregnancy“. A text “badly written“And which misses its objective, judged Philippe Bas during his examination in committee, excluding”totally» its adoption.
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Instead, the former Chairman of the Senate Laws Committee proposes to complete Article 34 of the Constitution, with this formula: “The law determines the conditions under which a woman’s freedom to terminate her pregnancy is exercised.“. His amendmentaims to enshrine the freedom of women to terminate their pregnancy“freedom according to him”already recognized by the decision of the Constitutional Council of June 27, 2001, which gave it constitutional value“.
Evolution of the Veil law
The amendment, however, preserves the possibility of changing the Veil law, as has already been done in the past by modifications which have, for example, extended the time limit for appeal and organized its coverage by health insurance, specifies-t -he.
Will Philippe Bas’s proposal convince his peers, especially on the right? “On social issues, the tradition of the Senate is respect for everyone’s convictions and freedom to vote, beyond partisan divisions.“, he told AFP on Friday. “We reflect, we debate among ourselves, and each then decides in conscience“.
A proposed constitutional law must be voted on in the same terms by both chambers, then submitted to a referendum to be adopted definitively.
Things are moving in the senatorial majority
For PS Senator Laurence Rossignol, this amendment “take a step” without being “at the end of the road though“. “Abortion is not just a freedom, it’s a right“, she told AFP.
“This amendment does not meet the objectives, but it shows that there is movement in the Senate majority and that is a good thing“, said for her part the environmental senator Mélanie Vogel, author of the text rejected in October.
A proposed constitutional law must be voted on in the same terms by both chambers, then submitted to a referendum to be adopted definitively.
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