The French Parliament definitively adopted on Thursday a historic law rehabilitating women convicted of abortion before the Veil Law of 1975. Passed unanimously in the National Assembly after an identical passage in the Senate, the text officially recognizes that the laws penalizing abortion constituted a serious attack on the health, autonomy and fundamental rights of women, causing physical and moral suffering and numerous deaths.
Led by Socialist Senator Laurence Rossignol, former Minister for Women's Rights, the law is part of a process of remembrance and redress, fifty years after the legalization of abortion. Between 1870 and 1975, more than 11,600 people were convicted for having or undergone an abortion. The Minister Delegate for Gender Equality, Aurore Bergé, hailed it as "an act of justice towards thousands of lives shattered by unjust laws," noting that these struggles remain relevant in light of the setbacks seen in many countries.
A duty to remember and a strong political signal
The text provides for the creation of a commission tasked with recognizing the harm suffered by women forced into clandestine abortions, collecting their testimonies, and passing on this history to future generations. While it does not include an immediate compensation component, the government does not rule out the possibility that this work could eventually pave the way for forms of redress—a position deemed insufficient by some elected officials but embraced by the executive branch.
This adoption comes in a European and international context marked by strong tensions surrounding the right to abortion. While France has enshrined abortion in its Constitution in 2024, the European Parliament has also just adopted a text calling for guaranteed safe access to abortion for all European women. For feminist organizations, the French law sends a clear message: abortion is a fundamental right, and those who have been persecuted for exercising it deserve recognition, dignity, and justice.
