“One of the greatest laws in society”. This is how Doctor Jacques Navet, former gynecologist at the Saint-Pierre clinic in Pontarlier, qualifies the Veil law, decriminalizing abortion, which this year celebrates its 50th anniversary. Now 80 years old, the retiree remembers this passage very well. “I was just 30 years old, I had just arrived in Pontarlier in November 1974. Being a gynecologist, I was all the more concerned. Before this law, abortion was prohibited and repressed. Doctors who practiced it could be struck off, perhaps for life ”.
Despite this risk, Jacques Navet carried out clandestine abortions before the promulgation of the law. “We are not really afraid when we have well -stopped convictions. And then, when you are young, you don't think about it. It must also be said that there was an already well -started movement, especially with the MLAC (Movement for freedom of abortion and contraception), The 343 manifesto, that of the 331 doctors or the Bobigny trial ”recalls the doctor.
The Veil law, “a deliverance”
His commitment comes from the years he was a doctor at the Hôtel-Dieu in Lyon. “The service received all the false layers of the Lyon region, whether spontaneous or caused”but it is a particular memory that marked it: “I saw a 30-year-old woman, lying on a table from the Medical Institute. Its skin color was ocher yellow, characteristic of sepsis. A woman could die of an abortion, it was terrible. Not to mention the other women who had complications that can go as far as sterility ”.
“There could also be hemorrhages or infections. The law has resolved this concern for complications. Abortion became official and supervised ”testifies Pierre Boyadjian, former head of obstetrics gynecology at the intercommunal hospital center of Haute-Comté (CHIHC) in Pontarlier. Despite a religious education, he saw in this law “A deliverance. I was able to attend illegal abortions during my studies. The patient was not very respected. It remained something barbarian. With this law, we went into well-being and respect ”.
-Beyond complications, the law has enabled equality between women. “There was a certain injustice. People with money headed for Swiss clinics, the aim of which was only mercantile, lucrative. Moreover, with the passage of the law and the reimbursement of abortion under Mitterrand, the clinics on the border have gone bankrupt “notes Jacques Navet.
Difficult implementation
If the Veil law, promulgated on January 17, 1975, opened the right to all women to resort to abortion, the implementation could be difficult. “Some doctors were against. The law has provided for a conscience clause. I believe that we do not have to put our judgments on a company. The law must be applied. This is the door open to anyone. If everyone takes this clause, no one practices abortion. It should not be forgotten that abortion is a painful decision for women. Some have psychological consequences for life ”underlines Doctor turnip. Already carrying out abortions before the law, he logically continued after his adoption: “Some women came from afar, sometimes from Bas Jura. When you knew you were practicing abortion, word of mouth was going quickly ”.
On March 4, 2024, France became the first country in the world to register the freedom to resort to abortion in its constitution. Registration now “More difficult to repeal, but nothing is ever acquired”warns Doctor turnip.
