In 1971, Marie-Claire Chevalier (1955-2022) was still in high school. That year, aged 16, she was raped by a schoolmate, became pregnant and had an - illegal - abortion. Since a law from 1920 prohibited the interruption of pregnancy, she was arrested, along with her mother, the woman who had performed the abortion and two friends who were charged as accomplices.
Marie-Claire Chevalier was prosecuted and imprisoned, her rapist was released (he had been arrested for auto theft and released for denouncing his victim for having had an abortion) (via and via).
French doctors willing to perform the illegal operation commonly charge $900 or more; a trip to London or Geneva for a legal abortion would cost at least $600. Two friends sent Mme. Chevalier to an office secretary who moonlighted as an "angel maker," as the French call an abortionist. Although the secretary charged only $300, she did the job so badly that Marie-Claire hemorrhaged and was taken to a hospital.
The hospital said nothing to the authorities, but Marie-Claire's 19-year-old seducer (sic)—whose own mother described him as "not very attractive." and really interested only in motorcycles—said all too much. Arrested on a theft charge, he started talking about Marie-Claire. The authorities indicted her, her mother, the two friends and the angel maker. All France settled back to cluck over the trial. (via)
Chevalier was represented by Gisèle Halimi (1927-2020) in "a sensational 1972 trial", the "Bobigny trial" (named for the Paris suburb where it took place). Halimi was - with Simone de Beauvoir - one of the founders of "Choisir", a group campaigning for the decriminalisation of abortion which finally happened in 1975. In an open statement, Halimi declared that she herself had had an abortion: "Sometimes it is necessary to break the law to move forward and bring about a change in society." (via and via). More women openly stated having had an abortion to support the case, such as e.g. Delphine Seyrig
Outside the courtroom, there were demnostrations; Paul Milliez became "an unsung hero" of the Bobigny trial (via):
Dr. Paul Milliez, dean of a Paris teaching hospital, a Catholic and father of six, testified that he would have performed Marie-Claire's abortion and that he had done so in a few other cases. Though he had immunity from criminal prosecution as a witness, he was quickly summoned for rebuke by Minister of Health Jean Foyer. When Milliez pointed out that wealthy women can easily get abortions, Foyer told him that "this was no reason why the vices of the rich should be made equally possible for the poor." (via)
Chevalier, her mother and the other women on trial were acquitted in the case that became a landmark one and that certainly paved he way to the legalisation of abortion in France (via and via).
A trial that would not have the sole purpose of defending the defendants (the young girl, her mother and three “accomplices” abortion), but would aim to shake society as a whole, provoke debate, shake consciences, break the taboo on abortion and denounce the legislation in force. A trial that would force the public authorities to face up to a phenomenon that affected nearly a million French women each year and claimed many victims. A trial that would point to the hypocrisy of a system in which the richest got by without any problem, at the cost of trips abroad or stays in private clinics, while the poorest, subject to the “angel makers”, risked their lives and faced the torments of justice. In short, a political trial was needed. (via)
Chevalier won the case but was traumatised by the rape and the abortion that had almost killed her. After the trial, she changed her name and sought to live her life out of the public eye (via and via).
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