On Wednesday, February 28, 2024, the Senate adopted the constitutional bill by 267 votes for and 50 votes against.
Its compliant adoption by the Senate paves the way for its final adoption by Congress, which brings together deputies and senators. The constitutional bill will be approved if it receives a three-fifths majority of the votes cast in Congress.
Why this Bill?
In the United States, the right to abortion was called into question at the federal level by a decision of the Supreme Court of June 24, 2022. In other countries, particularly in Europe, certain movements intend to restrict the right to abortion. and contraception.
In this context, the President of the Republic expressed the wish to include in the Constitution the freedom of women to resort to voluntary termination of pregnancy.
The Government presents the bill as a fair balance between the positions of the Senate and the National Assembly. The two assemblies have in fact adopted a constitutional bill aimed at protecting and guaranteeing the fundamental right to voluntary termination of pregnancy, but in different wording .
The Government’s text includes a single paragraph, worded as follows: “The law determines the conditions under which the freedom guaranteed to women to have recourse to a voluntary termination of pregnancy is exercised . “
It was adopted by the National Assembly and the Senate without modification.
During the vote on February 1, 2023, the majority of senators clearly expressed themselves in favor of the constitutionalization of abortion.
The wording proposed by the constitutional bill is close to that adopted by the Senate but differs in particular by the addition of the term “guarantee”. The addition of this term raises questions about the legal scope that could be attached to it and the interpretation that the Constitutional Council could make of it, which considers itself bound neither by the opinion of the Council of State nor by parliamentary debates.
There is also the question of the freedom of conscience of health professionals, which was one of the elements which made the Veil law a compromise law. However, no more than the freedom of women to resort to abortion, the freedom of conscience of health professionals is today enshrined as such in the Constitution. It therefore seems questionable to include only one of these two freedoms in the Constitution.
Taking into account these reservations, and pending amendments which could be tabled for the public session, the committee took note of the text presented by the Government.