After medically assisted procreation (PMA) for all women, which entered into force at the end of September, the deputies of La République en Marche (LRM) are tackling another societal reform, five months before the presidential election.
The National Assembly will examine in second reading, from Monday, November 29, a bill that intends to strengthen access to the right to abortion with extension of the period of voluntary termination of pregnancy (abortion) from twelve to fourteen weeks. “My goal is to ensure that real rights are assumed for each woman who needs to have an abortion”, said the president of the LRM group to the National Assembly, Christophe Castaner, on BFM-TV, Sunday.
The elected members of the majority take on their account a bill brought by the deputy (ex-LRM) of Val-de-Marne Albane Gaillot. Nearly 500 amendments – 90% of them from the Les Républicains (LR) group – will be under discussion throughout this week. “I regret that the majority did not tackle the subject before, blame Mme Gaillot. Today, almost eight women a day have to go abroad to abort late. “
Two and a half years that the debate is bogged down around this text of three articles. The first attempt to lengthen the deadlines for abortion dates from June 2019. Socialist senator from the Oise Laurence Rossignol then passes an amendment to the health bill at the last minute. Under pressure from the senatorial right, the amendment was put to a vote by the Minister of Health, Agnès Buzyn. He is ultimately rejected.
The text divides within the majority
At the Palais-Bourbon, two members of the delegation for women’s rights, Cécile Muschotti (LRM, Var) and Marie-Noëlle Battistel (PS, Isère), present a parliamentary report in September 2020 on the disparities in access to abortion in France. They recommend, in addition to extending the abortion period from twelve to fourteen weeks, that the legislator remove the conscience clause specific to abortion for health professionals and allow midwives to perform surgical abortions.
Albane Gaillot takes up these conclusions in a bill which is debated at first reading on October 9, 2020. Some LR deputies hostile to the text in the name of “the right of the unborn child” tabled around a hundred amendments in a strategy of obstruction. The text also divides within the majority, in substance as well as in form. The potential removal of the double conscience clause for healthcare professionals is seen as shocking. Just like the fact that former Macronists, who have gone to the opposition side, are seizing the subject. It was finally adopted by 86 votes to 59.
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