The right-wing majority Senate voted Wednesday, February 1, by 166 votes to 152, to enshrine in the Constitution the “freedom of women” to resort to abortion, a formulation that abandons the notion of right dear to the left.
The text adopted at first reading by the senators, which must now return to the National Assembly, aims to complete Article 34 of the Constitution with this formula: “The law determines the conditions under which the freedom of women is exercised. to terminate her pregnancy. »
The change in wording undertaken by Senator Philippe Bas (Les Républicains), substituting the notion of freedom for that of right, clearly allowed the adoption of the text, which had been rejected during its examination in committee. Several left-leaning senators hailed its passage, calling it “historic.”
“This is a historic victory! (…) There is no longer a debate on the need to do it, only discussions to continue on how to write it, ”welcomed environmental senator Mélanie Vogel on Twitter.
An outright rejection of the text by the Senate would have effectively buried it. A proposed constitutional law must be voted on in the same terms by both chambers, then submitted to a referendum to be adopted definitively. Unlike ordinary laws, the National Assembly cannot have “the last word” in the event of a disagreement with the Senate.
Last October, the Senate rejected by 139 votes for and 172 votes against a first constitutional bill proposed by Ms. Vogel and co-signed by senators from seven of the eight groups in the Senate, with the exception of the Republicans.
