The French parliament on Wednesday approved the extension of the legal deadline for abortion from twelve to fourteen weeks, an extension that was the most important point of the bill to strengthen voluntary abortion. There is currently a debate about women`s rights over their bodies. Many support abortion because they see it as a deliberate decision, and others oppose it for religious or political reasons. Since 1982, abortions have been performed under the French social security system. [3] Marianne Niosi: In Latin America, the movement for abortion rights is progressing very rapidly. All the feminist and medical groups that defend it organize their struggle for longer periods because they are necessary. The first thing to know is that access to the structures and information that make abortion possible varies widely. Second, some women don`t know they`re pregnant. It`s not as obvious as you might imagine. You can continue to have your period even if you are pregnant.
Others may be in the situation of not being able to hear what their body is saying. Since 1975, French legislation has allowed abortion if the woman`s health is “seriously threatened”. What was passed on July 31 was the new revision of the French bioethics law, which inserts the phrase “This risk may come from psychosocial distress” into the current law regulating abortion for medical reasons, in force since 2011. The article governing this practice would remain as follows: “If abortion is considered because the continuation of the pregnancy seriously endangers the health of the woman, this risk may arise from psychosocial distress, the multidisciplinary team responsible for examining the woman`s application consists of at least four persons.” The legal time limit in France for a free abortion is extended from 12 to 14 weeks. The new law, passed by lawmakers on Wednesday, aims to prevent thousands of women from terminating their pregnancies in neighboring countries such as Spain or the United Kingdom, where the term is longer. An expert explained to RFI the reasons for the French vote and reacted to the decision in Colombia to legalize abortion until the 24th week. In 2020, according to an official report by the Directorate of Statistics of the DREES, published last September, 222,000 voluntary abortions were performed in France, a decrease of 4% compared to 2019, when the highest number since 1990 was reached, mainly by young people aged 20 to 29. – The ban on abortion forces women to abort under zero conditions, said gynecologist Santiago Barambio, who said that this ban causes the death of women from bleeding and infection and the loss of reproductive capacity. “These examples show that no medical or scientific argument justifies a rejection of the extension of deadlines,” said the MEP during the presentation of her proposal, with which she wanted to improve the “effectiveness” of the right to abortion. Thus, the amendment to the abortion law is presented as a victory for the ruling party La República en Marcha (LREM), to which MP Albane Gaillot belongs. Marianne Niosi: For feminist groups, it is always necessary to have legislation that allows abortion as late as possible, because the decision to terminate a pregnancy, a decision that will change a lifetime, must be made as long as possible. These struggles are ultimately political and are commitments based on the situation of each country, at the moment you vote.
Abortion has been decriminalized since the adoption of the Veil law in 1975 and promoted by Simone Veil, which complements the Neuwirth law of 1972 on contraceptive methods. [1] However, the bill angered anti-abortion activists and parts of the right wing of the Senate and National Assembly, who repeatedly spoke in the chambers and tried to obstruct parliament. The scheduling of abortions is carried out if the 12-week limit allows it, one week after the woman`s request, if the border is close, this period can be shortened. Abortion can never be legal because it contradicts God`s law. The deprivation of the right to birth is a “cruel and catastrophic” social reality. The rate of illegal abortions remained quite high in the post-war period. Since 1967, when abortion was legalized in the UK, more and more women have started travelling to this country to have abortions and not be criminalised. Dr. Aubert Agostini told the French newspaper Libération: “Women are not aware of it, but they have the right to request a medical abortion, even after the legal deadline for abortion – set at the 12th week of pregnancy. This does not mean that your application will be accepted. There are very few tools to assess psychosocial distress, but it can be, for example, a woman victim of rape or a minor victim of incest who discovers her pregnancy outside the legal deadline. According to Planned Parenthood, out of about 7,000 medical abortions performed in France, about 250 have been requested for psychosocial torment.
The PP and PSOE have filed appeals for unconstitutionality against the laws, which they maintained when they came to government. During the Nazi occupation during World War II, the Vichy regime criminalized the practice of abortion by death. The last execution took place in 1942. After the war, the death penalty to punish abortion was abolished and special courts were established to deal with abortion cases. French Health Minister Marisol Touraine said in 2016 that abortion “is a right that must be defended” and will therefore be universal and free from today, April 1, 2017. – The fertilized being is an irreplaceable individual because he has 23 chromosomes of the mother and 23 of the father, so the responsibility assumed by the man and the woman in conception does not include the right to condemn the child to death. In modern times, induced abortion was criminalized in France with the adoption of the French Penal Code of 1791 and the French Penal Code of 1810. RFI: In Colombia, the courts have just authorized free abortion up to six months of pregnancy (24 weeks). The WHO estimates that a fetus is viable from 500 grams and 22 weeks of pregnancy (see PDF in French) How to explain this longer period? The bill makes clear that “despite the many advances made since its entry into force, access to and guarantee of abortion still needs to be improved” in France, where they spend an average of 7.4 days between requesting a consultation and performing the procedure.