On Wednesday, January 24, the French parliament began considering incorporating the right to abortion into the constitution. This initiative follows the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, dealing a significant blow to women in the US. One of the earliest proposals came from parliamentarian Mathilde Panot of La France Insoumise in 2022, with President Emmanuel Macron vowing to protect abortion care last year.
The idea of constitutionalizing abortion enjoys widespread support among the public and parties of the left. On the other hand, Gérard Larcher from the conservative party Les Républicains, the current president of the French Senate, commented that the move is unnecessary as women in France already have adequate access to abortion, and their reproductive rights are secured.
Before the National Assembly began debating, Manon Aubry from La France Insoumise called out comments by Larcher and Marine Le Pen. She wrote: “A few years ago, women in Poland, Hungary, Italy, and Slovakia would never have imagined that this right would once again be snatched from them. I tell them [Larcher and Le Pen] that the same extreme right-wing that is rampant in these countries wants to take power in France and apply the same doctrine.”
Although the right to abortion in France is currently guaranteed by law, women’s groups warn that this does not adequately protect this form of health care. As illustrated by examples from other European countries, including those quoted by Aubry, relying on single laws for access to abortion means that a change of government can eliminate that right.
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If abortion were to become a constitutional right, on the other hand, it would be more difficult for a future right-wing government to revoke it.
“[The right to abortion] should be enshrined in the constitution because any constitutional right or freedom benefits from specific legal protection. This means that we can guarantee and secure this right, and in particular, avoid recalling it, losing it, calling it into question, be it a year or ten from now,” said Marie-Ange Coppéré from the collective Féministes en Roannais to France Bleu.
In case the initiative is successful, will it automatically mean that abortion will become easily available to all women who need it? The answer is simple — no. Feminist groups and health policy analysts agree that even in that case, there will be much work left to do to ensure access.
One of the hurdles will be the distribution of abortion care services. Currently, women outside larger cities face significant obstacles in physically reaching such clinics. Considering that 130 clinics providing reproductive health care have closed down over the past 10 years and the medical desertification of parts of France, it becomes clear that amending the constitution will not be enough.
Keeping in mind President Macron’s track record on cutting social rights, it is also clear that material investments into strengthening the sexual and reproductive health network in France are unlikely to happen anytime soon.
“You can put it in the constitution, but that’s not going to open up a service that actually does abortions less than 120 kilometers from where you live,” legal expert Stephanie Hennette-Vauchez told CNN.
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In addition to that, according to voices from La France Insoumise and women’s groups, it is not safe to assume that Macron has got women’s back on this. Manon Aubry pointed out that the President is already talking about demographic policies that are extremely difficult to relate with his public declarations of support for women’s sexual and reproductive health.
The effort to constitutionalize abortion rights has been diluted before the National Assembly’s discussion. The initial proposal mentioned the right to abortion, but the current one discusses women’s freedom to choose a voluntary interruption of pregnancy. Unlike rights, which governments are obligated to fulfill, freedoms allow more interpretation. This implies that while abortion may be theoretically guaranteed for all women, in practice, there might be no clinics or health workers providing the service.
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