Why Luxemburg wants to write the freedom to have an abortion into the constitution

What is it about?

On 7 May 2024, Déi Lénk MP Marc Baum tabled a proposal to amend the constitution. There is a legal framework that gives women the right to abortion. But it was not that long ago, said Baum in the plenary. "Ten years ago, abortion was legalised here in the country under certain conditions. However, we have recently seen in various countries how quickly a purely legal framework can be overturned by a narrow majority. […] By enshrining the right to abortion and contraception in the constitution, Luxembourg can send a clear signal that our country takes its women, their choices and their ability to make their own decisions seriously and respects them."

The opposition politician thus put the government under pressure. As Baum recalled, the latter, in the person of Health and Social Security Minister Martine Deprez (CSV), had stated a week earlier that the coalition agreement did not provide for a constitutional amendment and that, therefore, the question of changing the Constitution would not arise. A question which had previously been raised by LSAP parliamentary group leader Taina Bofferding.

What happened in the background?

Baum's proposal should be seen above all in the context of the resurgence of political forces "that want to turn back the clocks of history once again and degrade women to second-class citizens", as he put it. Efforts of this kind have triggered political reactions across the EU.

In April 2024, against a backdrop of regression in women's rights both within and outside the EU, MEPs called on the Council by a majority (336 votes in favour, 136 against and 36 abstentions) to "include sexual and reproductive healthcare and the right to safe and legal abortion in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU". It was not the first initiative of this kind.

In Luxembourg, the Parliament had already adopted a resolution tabled by DP politician Carole Hartmann in June 2022 with 56 votes in favour and four against, in light of the US Supreme Court's overturning of the landmark decision known as Roe v. Wade. The House thus "condemned" "any initiative that seeks to prohibit, criminalise or restrict access to legal and safe abortion" and committed itself to, among other things, a "pro-choice policy" and "to support any measure that seeks to ensure quality care and respects women's freedom of choice and dignity".