Luxembourg’s Institutional Affairs Committee on Monday discussed the State Council’s second opinion on a proposal to anchor access to abortion in the Constitution, with the draft expected to reach parliament’s plenary session in early March, according to committee president Laurent Zeimet of the Christian Social People’s Party (CSV). The proposal, introduced by MP Marc Baum of The Left (Déi Lénk), seeks to enshrine the “freedom” to access abortion in the Constitution. In its second opinion, the State Council said it agreed with the text, while also arguing that there is no legal difference between describing abortion as a “freedom” or as a “right”.
Zeimet explained that Baum had been invited to complete the report, which the committee plans to discuss in early February. “Then I assume that at the beginning of March it will come to the Chamber to decide”, he added.
MP Taina Bofferding, parliamentary group leader of the Luxembourg Socialist Workers’ Party (LSAP), welcomed the development, saying the opinion confirmed what supporters had already maintained. “It is a good sign that a file is moving forward and above all that we can write the right to abortion into our Constitution”, she said.
The text is expected to secure enough votes to pass. The Alternative Democratic Reform Party (ADR) has spoken out firmly against it, while a small number of MPs within the governing parties, including MP Gérard Schockmel of the Democratic Party (DP), have voiced criticism of the draft.
