Paris, France — The combat was long, filled with demonstrations, petitions, dramatic debate and was met with a divided public. But on January 17th, 1975, the law legalizing abortion in France was enacted during the presidency of Valéry Giscard d’Estaing. Simone Veil, lawyer, politician and Auschwitz survivor played a pivotal role defending the proposed law before France’s National Assembly on November 26th, 1974 when she was the country’s Health Minister. Nearly 50 years later it has been recognized as a constitutional right in France. 

At the time, Simone Veil was relatively unknown to the public at large. President Giscard d’Estaing had made abortion one of the symbols of his willingness to liberalize the country and Simone Veil was given the difficult task of forging consensus in Parliament and at the end of long debates the new law was passed with the support of Congressmen on the left and center right. It is commonly known in France as the Simone Veil Law. Les Archives Nationales, France’s National Archives, is currently holding an exhibition to the public on the history of the struggle for legalizing abortion in France with the original speech given by Simone Veil to the National Assembly as its centerpiece. Both her hand written version and the typed version are on display. Through documents, photographs and an audio-visuel clip, the exhibition traces the movement and moments leading up to the pivotal speech.

The exhibition is being held within the context of the National Archives Les Remarquables (Remarkable Series) which was initiated in the autumn of 2023. The program focuses in on exceptional events in history, many of which are documented in the vast collection of France’s National Archives, one of the largest in Europe and located in a beautiful private mansion in the Marais. The public voted for the subjects they wanted to see in this small exhibition space after the Knights Templar and Simone Veil, exhibitions will be devoted to Gustave Eiffel and Joan of Arc in accordance with the public’s wishes. The Remarkable Series exhibitions are free of charge. The Simone Veil exhibition is running until September 2nd. Archives nationales, 60 rue des Francs Bourgeois, 75003 Paris, France. Tel: + 33 (0) 40 27 64 20. https://www.archives-nationales.culture.gouv.fr/en/web/guest/home