Seul le prononcé fait foi.
[France just made history enshrining abortion rights in its constitution last month. This sent a strong signal across the world. How did the environment evolve encouraging such unprecedented legislation and remarkable success story?]
Thank you very much for your question. First of all, please excuse my English, I’m French. But that’s going to force me to keep it short and get straight to the answer to your question.
I’d like to start by sharing a few figures with you:
Saying that shows us all the work is front of us. As a reminder, legalizing abortion without conditions everywhere would prevent from more than 39 000 death and 7 millions hospitalizations each year. Saying that also passes on this message of universalism to the world : it is possible, but with one and only one condition, a collective political will.
When we talk about this will, we often just mention it, but we don’t actually explain what it is. I’d like to share with you 3 lessons from our French experience.
We see it every day, including at conferences such as the CSW just a few weeks ago: anti-choice movements are on the rise, structuring themselves, organizing themselves in word and deed.
The Roe v Wade decision from the American Supreme Court was a catalyst. It unleashed the voice of conservatives and anti-choicers around the world, making the right to abortion a freedom directly threatened by conservatives the world over.
Facing this, we must reaffirm women’s rights. To win new ones, but also to protect the ones we’ve already won. We couldn’t accept that one day in France, as is the case today in other countries, this right will be put at risk by a conservative power that would limit these rights step by step.
On the initiative of members of parliament and civil society, we have launched this fight to guarantee this right in the Constitution. Thanks to all these forces, and also thanks to the will of President Macron, we have done it.
I’d like to emphasize this collective effort, which has involved the mobilization of NGOs and committed women, as well as members of parliament from all political parties, with the exception of the extreme right, of course. A first bill was tabled by one group, then a second by another, then a third draft was found by a final group. After that, we worked with President Macron and decided to propose a wording that would meet everyone’s expectations
It has given us a social strength that justifies amending our Constitution. This supreme text is a reflection of our society. To enshrine the right to abortion in our Constitution was to say that it was the will of the whole of society
I’m used to say that it’s everything and nothing at the same time.
But let’s be clear, it doesn’t solve everything, especially not access everywhere.
These are the messages I wanted to share today. A triple universalism:
Thank you very much for your attention.