A column published in “Le JDD” on Sunday April 30 calls for the creation of “abortion leave” to legitimize and affirm “this fundamental right”.
“Abortion leave would collectively change the way of perceiving abortion, which is still a bit under the coat”explained this Sunday on franceinfo Edmée Citroën, journalist and communicator, signatory of the forum published by The JDDwhere 32 personalities, journalists, lawyers, entrepreneurs are committed to the creation of leave for voluntary terminations of pregnancy.
franceinfo: Why this forum?
Edmee Citroën: Today, generally, when we have an abortion it’s on Saturday, we rest on Sunday and we go back to work on Monday. If we want to extend a bit for psychological or physiological reasons, we manage to get sick leave, but we are financially penalized. This is why we made a platform to ask for the establishment of a leave dedicated to abortion.
What triggered this call?
The genesis of all this is the creation of miscarriage leave for women. What shocked me when I saw that was that it was closed to women who have had abortions, voluntary terminations of pregnancy. It seemed pretty crazy to me.
“In the abortion process, there is always a somewhat illicit dimension, because there is no abortion leave. Women are told to manage a little.”
Edmée Citroën, signatory of the tribuneat franceinfo
Is abortion still seen as a fault?
For me, the political message that we send to women is that they have the right to abortion and that we are not going to give them leave. This retains this somewhat subversive character vis-à-vis abortion. Not being supported by your employer and those around you sends a message to women that is not great. We keep abortion in an illicit thing.
Would this leave allow abortion to become a fundamental right?
Yes of course. The bulk of the work is to constitutionalize abortion. We wanted to address the issue of abortion in the professional sphere. It provides information and it reflects the way in which abortion is considered, how it is perceived collectively. I think that this leave would collectively change the way of perceiving abortion, which is still a little under wraps.