After Congress voted on Monday to include abortion in the Constitution, the words “Planning assassin” were spray-painted on the front of the Planned Parenthood in Strasbourg, in Bas-Rhin.
“We are going to file a complaint, just as we have already done previously, this is not the first attack of this type unfortunately,” reacted Claire Riffel, employee of Family Planning.
“The question of the impact on our audience bothers us, the message is placed in a place where we come to seek support and an absence of judgment.
This contravenes the possibility for people to come and find this resource place,” she added.
“A right for which we will have to continue to fight”
The tag was the subject of immediate condemnation from the European Community of Alsace (CEA), the main partner of Family Planning in the department.
“It’s a real attack against Planning, against abortion,” lamented Nicolas Matt, vice-president of the CEA in charge of youth, denouncing an “odious act”.
“It’s a guilt-inducing message, we have to think about the young girls who are going to come here, who are already going through psychologically difficult processes,” he continued.
“With the inclusion of abortion in the Constitution, even if it is a considerable step forward, it is a right for which we will have to continue to fight.”
Premises already targeted in the past
France on Monday became the first country in the world to explicitly include voluntary termination of pregnancy (abortion) in its Constitution, after very broad approval from Parliament meeting in Congress at the Château de Versailles.
Also read “The fight begins”: anti-abortionists persist despite the inclusion of abortion in the Constitution
But the right to voluntary termination of pregnancy remains “in danger” and “at the mercy of those who decide,” Prime Minister Gabriel Attal warned parliamentarians.
The premises of Family Planning in Strasbourg had already been targeted on several occasions in March 2023 by tags opposing the right to abortion, notably on March 8, during International Women's Rights Day, according to Rue89 Strasbourg.