The demonstration is mathematical and further reinforces the fears of feminist associations for access to the right to abortion.
What is it ?
In France, about 30% of abortions are medical.
For this purpose, two tablets are needed.
The first, mifepristone (or mifegyne), stops pregnancy.
The second (misoprostol) stimulates the expulsion of the embryo.
However, the first, better known as the abortion pill, is only produced by a single pharmaceutical laboratory, the majority of whose capital is… American.
Fear of intimidation from anti-abortion movements
This Saturday, in Paris and in the region, several demonstrations will be held at the initiative of the Collective, "Abortion in Europe, women decide", against the questioning of this right in the United States and elsewhere in the world, but also for European production of abortion pills.
Moreover, the High Council for Equality between Women and Men (HCE) does not ask for anything else, recalling in its last press release "its concern about the dangers of monopolistic production of the abortion pill, concentrated in hands of a pharmaceutical laboratory: Nordic Pharma, of which a substantial part of the capital is now American.
»
The @hce supports the inclusion of the right to abortion in the Constitution.
I claimed it as soon as I took over as president.
It must also be introduced into the European Charter of Fundamental Rights and relocate the (American) production of the abortion pill to France!
— Sylvie Pierre-Brossolette (@SPBrossolette) June 25, 2022
The independent advisory body, attached to the Prime Minister, adds: "As has already happened in the past, the acquiring company could suffer significant intimidation from anti-abortion movements, thus causing risks of production disruptions. and supply, or pressures on prices.
»
Read alsoAbortion: Borne reaffirms its desire for inclusion in the Constitution, Le Pen criticizes a “diversion”
On June 24, the revocation by the Supreme Court of the United States of the Roe vs. Wade decision, guaranteeing the right to abortion for American women, reminded us of the fragility of this freedom, even in France.
For
to guard against any attempt to obstruct the Veil law, decriminalizing access to voluntary termination of pregnancy (abortion) since 1975, feminist associations but also doctors or politicians have been calling for this right to be included in the French Constitution, as well as in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
One way to make it sacred, of course, but that is not enough as the singularity of the production of abortion pills can make women vulnerable, according to associations.
The first supply concerns date back to 2018
"We can pass all the laws in the world, if the public authorities do not give themselves the means to guarantee their effectiveness, it is useless", says Céline Thiebault-Martinez, president of the French coordination for the European Women's Lobby. (La Clef), bringing together 80 member associations.
She will thus be present at 2:30 p.m. for the Parisian mobilization, place Pierre-Laroque, not far from the Ministry of Health, to point out the excessive risks of dependence on a single supplier.
The return of the knitting needle?
Prohibiting abortion has never made it possible to put an end to this practice, but condemns it to clandestinity: a real danger for women's health!
pic.twitter.com/Ic1nWNvXNT
– The CLEF (@ClefFemmes) June 28, 2022
UN Women France is also alarmed by such a situation.
"The American decision could spill over and constitute an excellent argument for countries that are still reluctant to legislate against abortion," she worries in a forum.
And she also drives the point home: “It is important to also take an interest in the localization of the production of abortion pills and not to leave this production in the hands of countries which are unfavorable to abortion”.
According to Céline Thiebault-Martinez, this subject of our independence in terms of supply "goes back to 2018".
The Covid-19 pandemic has finished confirming fears.
Read also“An abortion can cause indifference or an explosion”: abortion by those who have experienced it
In September 2020, the deputy of France Insoumise, Bastien Lachaud, already questioned Olivier Véran, the then Ministry of Health, following the shortage of many drugs: "The abortifacient drugs RU486, mifegyne, or even misoprostol are held by a single pharmaceutical group, Nordic Pharma, with risks of production and supply disruptions.
Their production has been threatened by militant anti-abortion acts and their prices have been increased by 10”, described the parliamentarian.
A tablet with a stormy history
His question?
"What is the government's plan to put an end to drug shortages and relocate the production of drugs and their active ingredients to France, in order to regain sovereignty over drugs?
Olivier Véran acknowledged that “several short-term stockouts of various emergency contraception specialties occurred in 2020. However, given their duration, these stockouts had no impact on public health. , the stocks in pharmacies and wholesalers having made it possible to ensure the continuity of distribution, ”he reassured.
Read alsoAbortion rights revoked in the United States: how the Supreme Court reversed an achievement of nearly 50 years
And tomorrow ?
It's because feminists haven't forgotten the stormy past of mifepristone.
The discovery of its abortive properties, a product of the Roussel-Uclaf laboratories, was made in 1982 by the French biologist Etienne-Émile Baulieu, who signed an agreement with the WHO in 1983 to be able to use this molecule worldwide as an abortifacient.
In France, despite major actions by anti-abortion movements, it was marketed in 1988 thanks to an injunction from the Minister of Health, Claude Evin, and in 1991 it was associated with misoprostol for better efficacy.
I was 15, it was one of my first reports, the condom cracked, I wasn't taking any contraceptives yet.
If I hadn't had free and anonymous access to the abortion pill and abortion was prohibited, I would have had to be a mother at 15.
15 years old.
— Artoise (She/Her) ✨ (@ABastelica) June 27, 2022
In 1997, after the takeover of Roussel-Uclaf by Hoechst laboratories, the struggle of opponents to abortion reached levels rarely reached in the United States.
Doctors have been assassinated and many clinics have given up performing abortions.
The powerful pharmaceutical group Hoechst Roussel (which has become Aventis since its merger with Rhône-Poulenc), "threatened with a boycott of its products, had thus, in 1994, given up marketing the abortion pill in the United States before completely abandoning this product , following pressure from anti-abortion groups in Germany and especially in the United States”, specifies the HCE.
The molecule was then sold free of charge to the Exelgyn laboratory, headed by the co-discoverer of the molecule, Édouard Sakis, in 2000. In 2010, after his death, the laboratory was bought by Nordic Pharma, a subsidiary of Nordic Group.
And tomorrow ?