in Paris, a thousand demonstrators “show their anger” in order to defend the right to abortion

With their hands painted blood red, these young women brandish coat hangers, a symbol of clandestine abortions, to “show violence.” Alice and her friend Noëlie, aged 17, come from Val-de-Marne. This is their very first demonstration “because it’s very serious what is happening in the United States. Over there, we took a leap backwards. It is very important to show our anger because these are our rights, it is important for us to be able to abort if we want, if we do not feel ready to be mothers.

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At the call of feminist organizations, such as Family Planning and the collectives “Abortion in Europe: women decide” and #NousToutes, 1,500 people demonstrated in Paris, according to the Ministry of the Interior. In total, about thirty demonstrations brought together a total of some 6,500 people in France, according to the Ministry of the Interior, for the defense of the right to abortion everywhere in the world, in reaction to the questioning of the abortion by the conservative Supreme Court of the United States. The American Supreme Court overturned, on Friday June 24, its famous 1973 judgment which guaranteed the right to abortion at the federal level, that is to say throughout the territory of the United States.

Morgane is also angry since this American decision. At 32, she parades for the first time “of all my life”: “That’s how important it is for me!”

“It’s a right that was guaranteed for women in the United States, which in a few hours was revoked. So why not us?”

Morgane, protester

at franceinfo

In France, feminist collectives point to obstacles in the country in terms of access to voluntary termination of pregnancy. A hundred centers have closed in recent years, according to the collective “Abortion in Europe, women decide”, and the situation is worsening according to gynecologist Danielle Gaudry, a figure of French feminism. “With the situation of the healthcare system, we see that the services which practice abortions have fewer time slots in the blockshe is alarmed. This summer, there will be the closure of certain services, including for abortions, there is no staff. So priority to extreme emergencies and we know very well that at that time, what will be set aside a little, it will be abortions.

Feminists also denounce the refusal and guilt by some doctors. This goes beyond the single question of termination of pregnancy. “I faced difficulties in obtaining permanent sterilizationsays Morgane. I was lucky to find doctors who agreed to do it, but it was complicated. I called a dozen gynecologists to be told ‘we don’t do, you don’t have children, you’re too young, you might change your mind, and if you meet someone’ one who wants children…'”

“Even if it is guaranteed in the law, the fact is that the application and provision of women to their own reproduction is still something complicated. Without necessarily talking about prohibition, we find ourselves blocked.”

Morgane, protester

at franceinfo

These demonstrators are therefore calling for strong political will and additional means to strengthen women’s right to control their bodies. In the National Assembly, the Renaissance group (ex-LREM) announced on Saturday June 25 the tabling of a bill to enshrine the right to abortion in stone in the French Constitution. For Noelle, “It threatens the lives of women, it must not start again because, otherwise, more women will be killed.”