Paris, Lyon, Toulouse… Several mobilizations for the defense of the right to abortion
While the right to abortion is questioned in some countries, demonstrations have been organized in several French cities.
Demonstrations took place on Wednesday all over France to defend the right to abortion, at a time when it is being questioned in several countries.
“We feel right now that there are big questions about the right to abortion, it’s scary, it’s important to show that there is a mobilization in favor of this right”, explained Sara Chollet, 25, doctoral student in law, who participated in the Parisian demonstration, organized on the occasion of the international day for the right to abortion.
“Never again”
Leaving from the Place de la Bastille around 6:30 p.m. towards the Jeu de Paume at the call of the collective “Abortion in Europe, women decide”, the Parisian procession numbered around a thousand people, while several hundred demonstrators were gathered in Lyon, Toulouse and Bordeaux, according to AFP journalists on site.
The demonstrators, mostly women of all ages, chanted slogans like “my body, it’s me and I decide” in Paris, “enough, enough, enough of this society which threatens without stopping the right to “IVG” in Lyon, or “abortion is a right, it will not be taken away from us” in Toulouse.
Signs showing a hanger with the inscription “never again” or “legal abortion = vital right” were visible in the Parisian procession, which was accompanied by a giant clitoris perched on a truck.
United States in the lead
“I am here to fight for my rights, for the rights of my sisters and my brothers in France and elsewhere in the world. For abortion, PMA and beyond for women’s rights in general”, aa told AFP Hélène David, 30, who was demonstrating in Toulouse in the rain.
In the Lyon demonstration, Sylvie, 67, a retired nurse, worked in an abortion center which closed in 2013: “In France, we are still lucky, but the reception conditions for women are deteriorating “, she revealed, judging that” nothing is ever acquired “.
Since the US Supreme Court’s decision in June to overturn a ruling guaranteeing the right to abortion, many US states have severely restricted this right. In Hungary, a recent cardiac decree obliges women to listen to the rhythm of the fetus before having an abortion.