France exonerates women convicted over abortions before legalization

Between 1870 and 1975, more than 11,660 people were convicted for performing or seeking an abortion, according to official estimates.

Le Monde with AFP
Dec 18, 2025

French lawmakers on Thursday, December 18, unanimously approved a bill exonerating women punished for abortion before it was legalized in 1975, a move praised by feminist groups as a standard for reproductive rights.

A unanimous vote in parliament's lower house, the Assemblée Nationale, finalized the adoption of a proposal that was accepted by the Sénat in March and backed by the government.

Continued: https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2025/12/18/france-exonerates-women-convicted-over-abortions-before-legalisation_6748632_7.html

18.12.2025

women exonerated for abortion

Going abroad to get an abortion, a struggle for thousands of women in Europe

“Exporting Abortion”, a transnational investigation, reveals that more than 5,000 women in Europe have to travel abroad each year to access abortion services due to obstacles they face in exercising this right in their home country.

20 May 2025
Francesca Barca, Translated by Ciarán Lawless

On 24 April of this year the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) My Voice, My Choice came to a close. The initiative attracted around 1.2 million signatures: a remarkable success for an ECI – a mechanism that calls the European Commission to propose a legal act in an area where the member countries delegated powers to the EU, provided it collects enough signatures. The campaign demanded a financing mechanism to guarantee safe abortion care for all those without access to such services.

Current laws and practices, it seems, are far removed from what civil society knows to be the reality.

Continued: https://voxeurop.eu/en/abortion-abroad-struggle-women-europe/

‘Extraordinary moment’: the 1970s abortion case that changed French law

Issued on: 10/10/2022

Paris (AFP) – Five decades ago, a lawyer convinced a French court to acquit a teenage girl who illegally terminated her pregnancy after being raped, a landmark case that would pave the way for the right to abortion in France.

Marie-Claire Chevalier was 16 when a boy the same age attacked her and made her pregnant. Her mother, an employee of the Paris public transport authority, helped her find a backstreet abortion.

Continued; https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20221010-extraordinary-moment-the-1970s-abortion-case-that-changed-french-law

French Manifesto of the 343 turns 50

April 5, 2021
By Marta Garde

Paris, Apr 5 (efe-epa).- Fifty years ago, 343 women in France were called ‘sluts’ for having the courage to sign a petition admitting to having had a then illegal abortion.

Claudine Monteil, one of the signatories, was 21 years old at the time and the youngest member of the group that included famous personalities such as feminist writer and philosopher Simone de Beauvoir and actress Catherine Deneuve.

Continued: https://www.laprensalatina.com/french-manifesto-of-the-343-turns-50/

05.04.2021