More than 3000 people demonstrate in Paris, on April 21, 1974 at the call of the MLAC (Movement for the Liberation of Abortion and Contraception), to claim sexual freedom, free contraception and freedom of abortion. AFP
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.
Its text recognizes that enforcement of previous laws "criminalizing the use of, practice of, access to, and information about abortion" constituted "an infringement of the protection of women's health, of sexual and reproductive autonomy," as well as "of women's rights." The pre-1975 laws led to "numerous deaths" and caused "physical and moral suffering," it adds.
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