The bill to extend the abortion period from twelve to fourteen weeks was rejected by the senators. Who are those who opposed the strengthening of this fundamental right?
Should the legal time limits for access to voluntary termination of pregnancy be extended from 12 to 14 weeks? To this question, the Senate answered in the negative. Senator Les Républicains Catherine Deroche, president of the Social Affairs Committee, justifies this by the fact that"at fourteen weeks, the sex of the child is sometimes already defined. We do not work on the same fetus at twelve and fourteen weeks". The senators of his group invoked, to justify their refusal en bloc, the recommendations of the National Academy of Medicine, for which this would increase the risks of complications. This massive vote cut short the examination of the amendments of the project In this group alone, there were 97 men In all, 201 votes were raised against the extension of the right to control one's body, without knowing the names of the voters, not communicated.
One can wonder about a vote which concerns the body of women by a Senate 70% made up of men. It is questionable whether a vote affects the future of relatively young women by a Senate whose average age is 61.
To vote for the extension is to "preserve the future"
On the side of the supporters of the extension of the period for abortion, pragmatism is invoked: the gradual closure of abortion centers, the discovery of late pregnancy by women who are often young. It is also a principle of equality, so that it is not only those who have the means who can go abroad late for an abortion. The National Consultative Ethics Committee (CCNE), for its part, estimated in mid-December 2020 that there is "no ethical objection to extending the period of access to abortion" two weeks.
Ghada Hatem, gynecologist, defends the extension of the legal deadline. In an April 2020 column published on aufeminin, she recalls that "the future of an unwanted child is worrying, and having a child with an abuser puts you in his grip forever (in the case of domestic violence, editor's note). Being a doctor also means preserving the future.
The text is returned to the National Assembly for a new reading. Let us hope that the deputies take into account the words of the first concerned by the possibility of abortion: women and people with a uterus.