France passes law requiring pro-life websites to 'openly state' stance on abortion
The French National Assembly passed a new law on Thursday that would penalize pro-life websites that attempt to discourage women from seeking to terminate their pregnancies if the website owners do not openly state their stance on abortion.
Under the new law, operators of websites that provide "misleading" information to women could be punished with two years in jail or a fine of €30,000.
Laurence Rossignol, the minister for women's rights, said that pro-life activists may still express their opposition to abortion as long as it was "under the condition they openly state who they are, what they do and what they want."
The vote on Thursday was the final stage of a lawmaking process that saw various versions of the legislation come alternately before the Assembly and the Senate. Conservative members of the Senate tried to water down the draft bill, but the left-leaning National Assembly had the last word. The legislation was approved by the lawmakers by a show of hands, Politico reported, citing AFP.
The Republican party voted against the law, saying it was a deliberate infringement of freedom of expression. The party members expressed their plans to submit the text to the Constitutional Council in the hopes that it will be declared contrary to the French Constitution.
France has an existing law that prohibits pro-life activists from going to hospitals to protest against abortions. Supporters of the new law argued that the activists have moved online and must be stopped.
One of the top search results in Google for "IVG," the French term for abortion, is the government's official website. However, the second listed site is managed by activists who are seeking to dissuade women from getting an abortion.
When a French comedian called the number on the second website, purporting to discuss his girlfriend's abortion plans, an activist reportedly warned him that: "She will have nightmares, anxiety, spams. She will wonder why she needs to smoke a pack of cigs each day and needs to have a glass of whiskey at night."
According to Alain Bensoussan, a lawyer specializing in digital law, the law would only apply to French-language websites targeting French women.
"It will be up to the judge to establish whether the website indeed targets French women," he said. "Every site must have a head of publication. That person will be liable," he continued.