Choisir la cause des femmes

Choisir la cause des femmes, commonly shortened to Choisir, is a French feminist association founded in 1971 during the campaign to decriminalise abortion in France. It was declared at the Paris police prefecture on 9 June 1971, following the publication of the Manifesto of the 343 in Le Nouvel Observateur on 5 April 1971, in which 343 women publicly stated they had had an abortion. The association was created to defend those women legally if prosecuted, and its founding figures included lawyer Gisèle Halimi, philosopher Simone de Beauvoir (its first president), academician Jean Rostand, novelist Christiane Rochefort and Nobel laureate Jacques Monod. Its stated goals were to promote contraception and sex education, to repeal the 1920 law and article 317 of the penal code that criminalised abortion, and to provide free legal defence for women prosecuted for abortion. Choisir became nationally known through the Bobigny trial of 1972, in which Gisèle Halimi defended Marie-Claire Chevalier, a minor accused of having had an abortion. The association mobilised public support and brought prominent witnesses, including Simone de Beauvoir, the Catholic physician Paul Milliez and actresses Delphine Seyrig and Françoise Fabian. The trial helped shift public opinion and contributed to the eventual adoption of the 1975 Veil law legalising abortion. In the early 1970s Choisir was the only mixed-gender national association campaigning for decriminalisation, and local sections emerged in cities such as Grenoble, Lille, Lyon, Nantes and Rennes, some of which practised aspiration abortions. After the legalisation of abortion, Choisir continued to work on women's rights and, more recently, on LGBTQIA+ rights. It is currently chaired by Ana Cuesta and directed by Violaine Lucas. Its headquarters are at the Cité audacieuse, 9 rue de Vaugirard, Paris 6. The association maintains an active public presence through its website, press releases and campaigns, including support for international feminist and human-rights causes. Its archives, including the 1972 petition of the 343 and related press reviews, are held in Bobigny.

Choisir la cause des femmes emerged in a period of changing attitudes in France. The Neuwirth law of 28 December 1967 authorised free access to contraception with the aim of reducing the number of abortions, which quickly proved illusory. From the late 1960s, two visions of abortion clashed: the Association nationale pour l'étude de l'avortement (ANEA) saw abortion less as a women's right than as a social and medical question, while activists of the Mouvement de libération des femmes (MLF) claimed for women the right to decide sovereignly over their bodies from a feminist perspective. On 5 April 1971, Le Nouvel Observateur published a manifesto signed by 343 known or anonymous women declaring publicly that they had had an abortion. This Manifesto of the 343 challenged the government to prosecute women who admitted breaking a law they rejected. Lawyer Gisèle Halimi proposed creating a group that could take on the defence of these women if needed. The movement had the support of Simone de Beauvoir, who became the association's first president, as well as academician Jean Rostand, novelist Christiane Rochefort and Nobel laureate Jacques Monod. The association was declared at the Paris police prefecture on 9 June 1971. Its three main goals were to promote contraception and sex education, to repeal the 1920 law and article 317 of the penal code repressing abortion, and to provide free defence for women prosecuted for having an abortion. Meetings were held at Gisèle Halimi's or Simone de Beauvoir's home on Sunday afternoons, with MLF activists participating. The association received much mail, including a letter from Madame Chevalier, accused along with two colleagues of having helped her daughter Marie-Claire Chevalier obtain an abortion. The young girl, a minor, was herself accused of having had an abortion. Gisèle Halimi offered to defend her, and in 1972 during the Bobigny trial, Choisir was very active in mobilising support. Halimi's idea was to speak "over the heads of the judges" to French society and the legislator so that the hypocrisy around abortion would cease. The 1920 law penalising abortion was in reality a class law that always punished the poorest women. The strong popular mobilisation around the Bobigny trial, media coverage and personalities who came to testify at Halimi's request (Simone de Beauvoir, Catholic medical professor Paul Milliez, actresses Delphine Seyrig and Françoise Fabian) weighed on the outcome of the trial and fostered public awareness of the distress of women seeking to interrupt an unwanted pregnancy. In 1971-1972, Choisir was the only mixed-gender national association of significant size campaigning for the decriminalisation of abortion. In several French cities, activists including feminists, young doctors and medical students created local sections of Choisir, for example in Grenoble, Lille, Lyon, Nantes and Rennes. In opposition to the national line of the association, members of these sections concretely performed abortions using the aspiration method, known as the Karman method. When the Mouvement pour la liberté de l'avortement et de la contraception (MLAC) was created in April 1973, the local sections of Choisir made different decisions depending on the political configurations of each city: to associate with the local MLAC, merge into it, or remain autonomous. Local situations evolved further when the Mouvement français pour le Planning familial (MFPF) decided to perform and publicly claim abortions at its congress of 2-3 June 1973, after which some departmental associations decided to join Choisir and/or MLAC groups in the struggle for free abortion. Choisir became nationally known at the time of the Bobigny trial, growing from a few members mostly from Paris at the end of 1972 to several thousand throughout France. On 16 December 1972, a meeting laid the foundations for the association's structuring. A legal collective assumed responsibility for the association, composed of three people involved from the beginning: Jacques Monod, Michèle Chevalier and Gisèle Halimi. Sixteen members residing in the Ile-de-France formed a national secretariat and took on various missions; for example, Jacqueline Manicom, a midwife, was part of the medical collective, while lawyers... From 1971 to 1975, the date of adoption of the law on voluntary termination of pregnancy (IVG) defended by Simone Veil, Choisir was in the front line of mobilisation for the right to abortion. Its president Gisèle Halimi claimed to use trials and legality to advance this right. After legalisation, the association continued its advocacy for women's rights and later expanded its mandate to include LGBTQIA+ rights. It remains active, currently chaired by Ana Cuesta and directed by Violaine Lucas, with headquarters at the Cité audacieuse in Paris.

• Neuwirth law authorises free access to contraception in France.

• Publication of the Manifesto of the 343 in Le Nouvel Observateur.

• Choisir la cause des femmes is declared at the Paris police prefecture.

• Bobigny trial; Choisir actively mobilises support for Marie-Claire Chevalier.

• Meeting lays the foundations for the association's national structuring.

• Creation of the MLAC; local Choisir sections make different decisions regarding affiliation.

• MFPF congress decides to perform and claim abortions; some departmental associations join Choisir and/or MLAC.

• Adoption of the Veil law on voluntary termination of pregnancy (IVG).

Feminist advocacy and legal defence association; historically at the forefront of the French abortion-rights movement and now also active on LGBTQIA+ rights.

1. 1Actualité - Site de yes-women !choisirlacausedesfemmes.org
2. 2Mentions légales - Site de yes-women !choisirlacausedesfemmes.org
3. 3Wikidata Q2964350wikidata.org
4. 4Choisir la cause des femmes - Wikipédiafr.wikipedia.org