267 votes for, 50 against. Wednesday evening, the bill aimed at constitutionalizing abortion was adopted by the Senate. It will now be able to be definitively adopted by Congress. This is due to meet on March 4, in Versailles.
The Senate said yes. After three hours of debate, the upper house of Parliament voted on Wednesday February 28 on the bill aimed at including voluntary termination of pregnancy (abortion) in the Constitution. The text was largely approved: 267 votes for and 50 votes against. And this, without modification. Remember that on Monday, two senators from the Les Républicains party, Bruno Retailleau and Philippe Bas, tabled an amendment which aimed to “remove the term ‘guarantee’ added by the government”. The two senators criticized the terms “guaranteed freedom” for disguising the notion of “right”.
“This evening, the Senate wrote a new page in women’s rights, this vote is historic,” immediately greeted the Minister of Justice, Éric Dupond-Moretti, who welcomed the fact that France had become “the first country to world to enshrine in the Constitution this freedom for women to dispose of their bodies”. And the Minister of Justice affirmed: “This vote, basically, reiterates to those who do not yet know that the women of our country are free. This vote reiterates to what extent we are all attached to this freedom.”
???????The President of the Republic also reacted on Wednesday evening. “I am committed to making the freedom of women to have an abortion irreversible by including it in the Constitution. After the National Assembly, the Senate is taking a decisive step which I welcome,” declared Emmanuel Macron on X (ex-Twitter), announcing that for the final vote, he will convene Parliament in Congress on March 4, i.e. next Monday. The bill must then be approved by at least three-fifths of all the deputies and senators meeting in Congress since it involves modifying the French Constitution.
Other personalities also expressed their satisfaction. Thus, the rebellious Mathilde Panot shouted “victory” over For her part, the Minister responsible for Equality between Women and Men and the Fight against Discrimination, Aurore Bergé, welcomed: “For our mothers. For our daughters. Here we are! The Senate said yes! See you Monday in Congress to include abortion in our Constitution!”
Majority on the right, the Senate has always been difficult to convince on the strengthening and protection of access to abortion. It was above all the votes of the Republican parliamentarians and their centrist colleagues who threatened the inclusion of abortion in the Constitution on Wednesday evening. In February 2023, 119 LR senators and 28 centrists opposed a bill along these lines when only 16 LR and 17 centrists voted for it.???????
