REPORTAGE
From Paris to Marseille, rallies defend the right to abortion
Audio 01:15
Demonstrators defending the right to abortion, in Paris, July 2, 2022. AFP - CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
The right to abortion has been buried in the United States, French people are worried about the future of this right in their country.
The collective Abortion in Europe-Women decide organized demonstrations this Saturday, July 2 in several large cities.
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Organized at the call of the collective Abortion in Europe-Women decide, joined by many feminist associations, unions and political parties, several demonstrations were planned across France.
In Paris, there were several hundred to respond to the call of associations to claim in particular that the right to
abortion
be enshrined in the Constitution, specifies our special
correspondent Marie Casadebaig
.
The procession, mainly composed of women, set off in the direction of the forecourt of Human Rights, just in front of the Eiffel Tower.
Many, like Stephanie, brandished an object that they hope belongs to the past: a metal coat hanger, a symbol of clandestine abortions.
“
The coat hanger was a tool, at the time, for pregnancy terminations.
And we must stop believing that having an abortion is like going to the swimming pool or playing tennis.
So, if we are already lucky enough to be medically assisted, we have to fight to keep it that way
, ”she explains.
Abortion, even if it is forbidden, still exists.
The only difference is that when it is allowed, it is done under good medical conditions.
When it is forbidden, women die.
Anne-Sophie, pro-abortion protester in Paris
Marie Casadebaig
It is for the same reasons that Noémie and her daughter Emilie, 15, came to demonstrate.
“
To think that a country as big as the United States is capable of removing this fundamental right scares me a little.
That's why I'm here today
, says Emilie.
It's quite troubling because I'm from a generation that felt like it was a right that we acquired in perpetuity.
And we realize that it is not
.
In Bordeaux, the rally also numbered a few hundred people – 400 according to the police, a thousand according to the organizers.
They were about as many in Lyon, where hangers were placed on the floor painted red, reports Agence France-Presse.
In Strasbourg, they were more than 300 according to the prefecture to take the direction of the American consulate.
In Toulouse, a few dozen people, especially women, gathered under the slogan “We are proud, women, radicals and angry!
".
And in Marseille, demonstrators joined the Pride March which brought together 12,000 people according to the prefecture.
What could reassure some demonstrators a little is that the right to abortion is enshrined in the Constitution.
Two parties have proposed a text along these lines: the presidential Renaissance party and the left-wing Nupes coalition.
He could thus be the first to win a majority of votes in this new, fragmented Assembly.
► Also to listen: Inscription of the right to abortion in the French Constitution: "A purely symbolic approach"
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