Paris, Toulouse, Bordeaux… several demonstrations in France to defend the right to abortion
Several thousand people took to the streets this Saturday, July 2 in France to express their dismay at the decline in women’s rights in the United States. In France, the idea of constitutionalizing the right to abortion is gaining ground.
The news caused a stir in France. The right to abortion was removed by the ultra-conservative justices of the Supreme Court in the United States. In France, supporters of women’s rights have mobilized in several cities, in Paris, Bordeaux, Toulouse and Strasbourg, AFP report cited by several medias.
The return of the conservatives
Protesters marched with hangers in reference to clandestine abortions. From the regions to the capital, the participants fear the regression of women’s rights around the world and particularly in France.
Several hundred people have been assigned to Paris to defend the right to abortion all over the world, in reaction to the questioning of abortion by the conservative Supreme Court of the United States #AFP pic.twitter.com/5YZT9Cloeq
– Agence France-Presse (@afpfr) July 2, 2022
“In France, we are not outside the world. You have to be careful,” explains Sandra, a citizen interviewed by AFP in Toulouse. With the return of conservative ideas all over the world and in Europe, the fear of a backpedal on certain fundamental rights is in everyone’s mind. “It’s a right that was guaranteed for women in the United States, which in a few hours was revoked. So why not us?” Asks a protester from the Parisian procession quoted by France Info.
“The right to freely dispose of our bodies”
More than a question of rights, furnished women ask to be able to remain in control of their choices with their bodies. “It’s not just the right to abortion but the right to freely dispose of our bodies. It’s a fundamental right, which does not only concern France but women all over the world”, affirms Johanna in Toulouse, quoted by AFP.
As our colleagues remind us, in France the right to abortion is still fragile. The lack of information, the difficulty of access to care, and the delays in treatment are notably black points that are regularly fed.
