TESTIMONY. 50 years of the Veil Law on abortion. “I remember it as a banal act”, Martine, clandestinely aborted in Besançon

50 years ago, on January 17, 1975, the so-called Simone Veil law legalized the right to abortion. A societal revolution resulting from a long, often clandestine struggle, like that of the MLAC in Besançon. Meeting with former activists and Martine who had a clandestine abortion.

In the hands of Françoise Gayet, who practiced illegal abortion in the 1970s, 122 files flooded in, on which were written the name, first name, age and family situation of a woman who had a clandestine abortion, thanks to at MLAC. 122 files, but Françoise Gayet estimates that more than 200 abortions were performed during the two years of existence of the MLAC in Besançon. On one of these cards, the first name “Martine” appears. In 1975, at the age of 30, she had an abortion. She agreed to tell her story to our team of journalists Stéphanie Bourgeot, Florence Petit and Rémi Bolard.

I heard about MLAC on the radio, and I visited them. I was welcomed by a team who explained to me the ins and outs of the karman method which was practiced at the time

In 1975, Martine was the mother of two children, she was married, but her husband was still studying. His military service has not yet been completed. Impossible for this mother to take on a third pregnancy. “My decision was already made, but it was confirmed thanks to MLAC. I was ready to do anything, like a knitting needle, which is very nasty and very dangerous. I was determined, I couldn't not take on this pregnancy. I didn't want it.

For Martine, there is no fear, but relief at being helped and supported, even in hiding.

It happened as simply as possible, as naturally as possible. Not for a moment did I doubt how this was going to happen. I remember it as something very quick. I remember it as a banal act.

Martine's abortion took place at her home. A team from MLAC moved, suitcase d’intervention in the hand, in which was everything necessary for the abortion. “The Karman method is with a large syringe. We had a vacuum cleaner and a jar. We connected all of this to a motor, we turned, it sucked up the placenta and the embryo, it went into the jar, afterwards when we had the impression that everything was finished, we looked at what we had in the jar and if it was enough, we said, it's good, it's finished”Françoise Gayet, former MLAC activist

Clandestine abortions regularly took place at the homestay. Very often two patients in a row. Lpatients who had had recourse to an abortion lent their home for the following. Chain of solidarity.

This abortion was an extraordinary relief, so much so that I was ready to help all the women in the world, to do the same, to the extent that she wanted the same thing as me.

After her abortion, Martine provided a “service” to MLAC by being present during abortions to reassure women, share her experience, to de-dramatize an act which remains traumatic, sometimes even guilt-inducing. “I owed society something. I felt indebted.”

MLAC is the Movement for Abortion and Contraception Freedom, which was created in 1973 with the aim of legalizing voluntary termination of pregnancy (IVG) in France. In fact, theOrthogeny was already legal in certain cases, when he for example, there was a risk of maternal death, or pregnancy following a viol, but left to the discretion of the doctor. The activists you MLAC advocated the freedom of'to have recourse to abortion.

The movement brought together activists, men and women, from family planning, the women's liberation movement and the Health Information Group (GIS). They moved cautiously through the streets of Besançon, going from one home to another. Activists alongside Françoise Gayet, a medical student in 1973, were Josette-Alice Bos and Philippe Schepens, a psychology student, also in 1973.

It was so legit. We were with each other, we were for each other and that gave us incredible strength.

Philippe Schepens, former MLAC activist

Aprs the adoption of the law relating to the voluntary termination of pregnancy on January 17, 1975known as the Veil lawcexpected MLAC ont were dissolved, others were continued afterwards, to ensure the proper application of the law, or just to continue to inform.

In Besançon, it was dissolved, but some of its members, including Françoise Gayet, joined the hospital service responsible for abortions installed in the old caretaker's pavilion behind the Mother and Child.

We were for something, not against something, but a law from 1920 which was, at the time, more than 50 years old, no longer corresponded at all to the evolution of things, especially after May 1968.

Josette-Alice Bos, former MLAC activist

During its two years of existence, the MLAC has not deplored any failure or “accident”, according to them. Statistics at the time estimated that there were 50 deaths per year due to clandestine abortions before the Veil law. Figures largely underestimated according to MLAC, GIS and other family planning agencies which speak of 5,000, not counting irreversible sterility due to particularly dangerous techniques.

In 1974, the MLAC emerged from anonymity to occupy the Besançon maternity ward in order to support a mother who wished to terminate her 9th pregnancy. The following year, Simone Veil passed the law for abortion. On March 8, 2024, the right to abortion was enshrined in the constitution. It took half a century to bring this fight for the freedom to abort to fruition.