Calls to enshrine abortion in Luxembourg's constitution have reignited political divisions, with CSV president Luc Frieden stressing it should remain a conditional freedom rather than a guaranteed right.
Christian Social People's Party (CSV) president Luc Frieden said on Wednesday that abortion should be regarded as a freedom rather than an absolute right, as his party clarified its stance on the issue. His remarks were made in his capacity as party leader, while he later spoke as Prime Minister about the need for a broad social consensus.
The debate was triggered by a bill from The Left (Déi Lénk), which seeks to enshrine the right to abortion in the constitution to ensure it cannot easily be reversed. Earlier this week, the parliamentary institutions committee placed the proposal on its agenda, sparking renewed political and social debate.
After that meeting, the CSV had not yet taken a firm stance, but the party has now clarified its position. As party president, Luc Frieden stressed that abortion should not be considered an absolute right but instead a freedom subject to conditions. For this reason, it could not, as proposed by deputy Marc Baum, be entered into the constitution as a right.
In his view, for women it should be a 'public freedom' (liberté publique), which is framed by the legislator and enshrined in the constitution. A fundamental right, he argued, cannot be restricted by the legislator, whereas a public freedom can. This would allow conditions to be set, as is already the case today – for example, that abortion is only permitted within 12 weeks.
"We do not want it to become an absolute right, because that would mean, for instance, that a doctor or a hospital would have to perform an abortion, since it would then be a right of every citizen. We want it to be a freedom for the woman to decide, but the legislator must set the conditions. The CSV stands by the conditions currently set out in the abortion law, and we do not want to change them," Luc Frieden emphasised.
Speaking in his capacity as Prime Minister, Frieden added that he would welcome a broad social consensus on the matter. “"I know that this is a question of conscience, where probably every deputy must vote according to his or her conscience," he underlined. The CSV, he noted, is moving in that direction, even though the issue must still be debated in all party bodies.
At the beginning of the week, 70 people protestest in front of the Chamber for including abortion in the constitution. Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, for his part, made it clear that he is firmly opposed. The archbishop described it on RTL Radio as a black day in Luxembourg's history, should it come to pass.
