French lawmakers have unanimously approved a landmark bill exonerating women who were punished for having abortions before the procedure was legalised in 1975 – a move hailed by feminist groups as a symbolic affirmation of reproductive rights.
The vote, held on Thursday in the National Assembly, the lower house of the French parliament, finalised the adoption of the bill after it was backed by the Senate in March and supported by the government.
The rare unanimous result underlined the political consensus around the issue.
The text states that the enforcement of France’s former abortion laws “criminalising the use of, practice of, access to, and information about abortion” amounted to an infringement on women’s health, sexual and reproductive autonomy and fundamental rights.
Before abortion was decriminalised, the bill notes, restrictions led to “numerous deaths” and caused widespread physical and moral suffering among women forced to seek dangerous, clandestine procedures.
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'Shattered lives'
“This is an act of justice towards those thousands of lives shattered by unjust laws,” said Aurore Bergé, the minister-delegate for gender equality, during an emotional address to MPs in which she recounted that her own mother had undergone an abortion.
“We have a responsibility to make amends,” she said, “but above all we have a duty to sound the alarm,” warning of growing attacks on women’s rights around the world.
Official estimates suggest that between 1870 and 1975, more than 11,660 people were convicted in France for either performing an abortion or seeking one – a figure that campaigners say reflects only part of the true scale.
While the new law does not provide for financial reparations, it establishes a commission tasked with collecting, preserving and sharing the memories of women who underwent secret abortions, as well as those who helped them.
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Constitutional right
The vote was witnessed by Claudine Monteil, one of 343 women who, in 1971, signed an open letter declaring that they had had abortions and calling for legalisation – an act of civil disobedience that helped shift public opinion.
France decriminalised the voluntary termination of pregnancy with the 1975 Veil Law, named after Simone Veil, the health minister who steered the legislation through parliament despite fierce opposition.
In 2024 France became the first country in the world to enshrine the right to terminate a pregnancy in its constitution – a move seen as a response to global rollbacks of reproductive rights.
Abortion remains a charged political issue in many countries, with access restricted or reversed in some places, including parts of the United States.
“France is sending a clear message, at home and abroad – no one should ever be convicted for having an abortion,” the Women’s Foundation said in a statement welcoming the vote.
The decision comes as the European Parliament this week voted in favour of an EU fund that would help member states provide abortion care to women who cannot access it safely in their own country. Access to abortion still varies sharply from one country to another across the bloc.
(with newswires)
