the Senate decides in favor of the constitutionalization of abortion, paving the way for its definitive adoption by Congress

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Cover image: Rally in favor of including abortion in the Constitution, in front of the Sorbonne, in Paris, February 28, 2024. Michel Euler / AP

• The inclusion of voluntary termination of pregnancy (abortion) in the Constitution encountered, on Wednesday February 28, the reluctance of the right during a vote which promises to be undecided in the Senate; some elected officials will try to slow down the reform, failing to be sufficiently numerous to reject it. The three leaders of the senatorial majority – the president of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, the president of the Les Républicains group, Bruno Retailleau, and that of the centrist Union group, Hervé Marseille – are in fact opposed to the reform.
• Also the debates, starting at 4:30 p.m. at the Palais du Luxembourg, should be tense. “The law determines the conditions under which the freedom guaranteed to a woman to have recourse to a voluntary termination of pregnancy is exercised” : the wording of the text, retained by the executive, will then be submitted to the vote of the 348 senators.
• The parliament “can be reunited next week” in Congress in Versailles to definitively include abortion in the Constitution in the event of a favorable vote by the Senate on a formulation identical to the text voted by the National Assembly, declared government spokesperson, Prisca Thevenot.
• Associations defending women’s rights such as groups opposing abortion have increased initiatives in recent days to convince senators. Several rallies are announced around the Senate in the afternoon.

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