Choisir, a french feminist association
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Story by
Violaine Lucas
The french feminist association Choisir la cause des femmes is founded in 1971 by several personalities, notably Gisèle Halimi (attorney), Simone de Beauvoir (philosopher, writer), Jean Rostand (académicien), Christiane Rochefort (novelist), Jacques Monod (medicine Nobel prize).
Its initial objectives are:
- sexual education and contraception
- the repeal of the repressive statute of 1920 which prohibited abortion
- the free defence of women sued for abortion
Choisir took on the Bobigny case in 1972. A 16 year old girl, Marie-Claire C… had an abortion with the complicity of her mother; the latter, defended Gisèle Halimi, is judged among three other women. At the hearing many scientific and literary figures (including Michel Rocard, Françoise Fabian, Simone de Beauvoir and Professeur Paul Milliez) were heard, called by the defence to denounce this “anachronistic” case.
In a couple of weeks, the Bobigny case creates an irreversible change in public opinion that will lead to the amendment of the statute of 1920. The defendants are sentenced to with peines avec sursis… The young girl, defended in closed court by her lawyer Gisèle Halimi, had already had the charges against her dismissed. In 1975, the « Veil » law authorises abortions for a trial period of 5 years. Choisir has presided over a commission charged with supervising the application of this law.