After the inclusion of voluntary termination of pregnancy in the Constitution, “France must now take this fight to the European level”, said government spokesperson Prisca Thevenot on Wednesday. The fundamental law is not yet sealed – Emmanuel Macron will chair a ceremony to this end on Friday – but the executive is already considering going further on abortion.
After the vote “by an overwhelming majority” of the Congress on Monday (780 votes for, 72 against), “France must now take this fight to the European level”, declared Prisca Thevenot during the report of the Council of Ministers. “In 2022, the President of the Republic had also expressed his desire to include the right to abortion in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,” recalled the government spokesperson.
The conscience clause “must be able to continue to exist”
A commitment that is still relevant today according to her colleague at Gender Equality, Aurore Bergé, who immediately assured: “Obviously we want to guarantee the inclusion of abortion in the Charter of Fundamental Rights”. The two ministers did not, however, indicate whether the government would support the resolution tabled to this effect by the deputies of La France insoumise.
Asked about the double conscience clause of doctors who can refuse to perform abortions, Aurore Bergé also considered that the clause “must be able to continue to exist”. La France insoumise assured Monday that it wanted to take this fight for Family Planning against the conscience clause of doctors, specific to abortion.
“It is a freedom that doctors, and indeed all health professionals, must be able to maintain,” insisted the minister, recalling that they “also had a legal obligation” to “immediately redirect the patient.” so that “she does not find herself outside the legal time limits because she would have been disoriented”.