Worried about the “setbacks” observed in the world, Elisabeth Borne on Wednesday defended the project to include the “fundamental right” to abortion in the Constitution and also in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
“Right now we see that there are regressions, history is starting to move in the wrong direction,” lamented the Prime Minister, who visited the headquarters of Family Planning in the 11th arrondissement in Paris on Wednesday.
“When we see the setbacks that we can witness today, including in Europe with the far right which challenges this right to abortion, we see the importance of registering this right as a fundamental right”, insisted the Prime Minister to the press, again supporting the majority bill announced this weekend.
Ms. Borne notably deplored the decision of the very conservative Supreme Court of the United States to bury a judgment which, for nearly half a century, had guaranteed the right of American women to have an abortion. This “was a very stern warning, and it shows us that nothing is ever certain on women’s rights”, she underlined.
She therefore pleaded to include this right in the French Constitution but also “in the charter of fundamental rights at European level”.
Accompanied by the Minister Delegate for Equality between Women and Men, Isabelle Rome, the Head of Government discussed with associations and health professionals, who welcomed the desire to “sacralize” the right to IVG, even if it would not be threatened today in France.
“But we cannot imagine what will happen in the coming decades. We must act as long as this consensus exists in France,” pleaded lawyer Karen Noblinski.
“It’s not when the house is burning that you take out insurance,” metaphorized Anne-Cécile Mailfert, president of the Women’s Foundation. Ms. Mailfert also denounced “an international conservatism”, mixing Russian and American funding, intended to maintain associations or anti-abortion movements particularly active on the internet.
“We are worried about the rise of conservatism in our country, not just in the United States,” added Clémence Pajot, director of the National Federation of Information Centers on the Rights of Women and Families.
Ms. Pajot notably highlighted the lack of information for young people who “are not aware of their rights” and are influenced by “very well-made websites which discourage abortion”.
The health professionals present were moved by the “heterogeneity” of access to abortion in the territory, with women “forced to move from department to department, who sometimes have to travel 50-60 km”, said underlined Sarah Durocher, National Co-President of Family Planning.
Adrien Gantois, president of the National College of Midwives also alerted to the “lack of professionals in certain territories”: “we are very afraid for this summer, it does not only concern abortion but also maternity wards”.
Gynecologist Laurence Danjou, president of the national association of abortion and contraception centres, warned of growing difficulties in accessing “instrumental abortion”, the share of which has been reduced in favor of medical abortion, “not indicated for all women”.
06/29/2022 13:24:03 – Paris (AFP) – © 2022 AFP
