Abortion: France and antiquity

Abortion is a common medical practice and refers to the termination of a pregnancy for non-medical reasons. In France, we talk about "IVG" (Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy), "IMG" (Medical Interruption of Pregnancy) and "ITG" (Therapeutic Interruption of Pregnancy).

But with the recent events and discussions taking place in the world, is not it regrettable to go back to old laws when medicine is progressing, and women are becoming more liberated.

French history of the abortion

Before its legalization, and for an exceedingly long time, abortion was initially forbidden because of Christianity, a strong religion in France, and the consequences were very severe: death penalty for the woman and the people who helped her.

The "Philosophes des Lumières" made it possible to remove this punishment. The State changed this law only in 1810, condemning women to prison.

Later, therapeutic abortion was tolerated by the Academy of Medicine in 1852, even though: "[abortion is] a crime against family order and public morality". This IMG being only to save the life of the mother.

Subsequently, at the beginning of 1900, 500,000 women would have had recourse to abortion, notably thanks to the "faiseuses d’anges" (angels-makers). Some people then tried to pass laws to "repress provocation to abortion and anti-conceptional propaganda" (law of 1920: article 317) which can also be understood by the massive fall of the population due to the 14-18 war. Contraception was therefore also considered to abort during this period.

In 1942, with the Vichy regime, abortion was declared a "crime against state security" and was punishable by death.

Finally, with the feminist movements of the 1950s, the modification of the Hippocratic oath in 1966 to legalize abortion and other facts during this period.

In 1975, under the Chirac 1 government, the Minister of Health: Simone Veil, managed to pass the law decriminalizing abortion

Before Jesus Christ

Abortion has been practiced for an exceedingly long time and the oldest traces that remain come from Mesopotamia (it was practiced before) and according to the Code of Hammurabi: Babylonian text of 1750 BC, abortion was forbidden.

Moreover, around 1600 BC in Egypt, the Ebers papyrus authorized women to have abortions under certain conditions.

In ancient Greece, large families were not considered ideal, the philosophers of the time considered abortion as a good practice to keep a constant demography.

Different techniques were shared to achieve it.