The Manifesto of the 343 (), was a French petition signed by 343 women "who had the courage to say, 'I've had an abortion. It was an act of

civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be called "civil". Hen ...

, since

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...

was illegal in France, and by admitting publicly to having aborted, they exposed themselves to criminal prosecution. On 5 April 1971, in issue 334 of ''

Le Nouvel Observateur (), previously known as (1964–2014), is a weekly French news magazine. Based in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris, it is the most prominent French general information magazine in terms of audience and circulation. Its current editor is Cécil ...

'', a social democratic French weekly magazine, the manifesto, "Un appel de 343 femmes" (an appeal by 343 women), was published, as the sole topic on the magazine cover. The manifesto called for the legalization of abortion and free access to contraception. It paved the way to the adoption, in December 1974 and January 1975, of the "Veil law", named for Health Minister

Simone Veil Simone Veil (; ; 13 July 1927 – 30 June 2017) was a French magistrate and politician who served as Health Minister in several governments and was President of the European Parliament from 1979 to 1982, the first woman to hold that office. ...

, that repealed the penalty for voluntarily terminating a pregnancy during the first ten weeks (later extended to fourteen weeks).

The text

The text of the

manifesto A manifesto is a published declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government. A manifesto usually accepts a previously published opinion or public consensus or promotes a ...

was written by

Simone de Beauvoir Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, and even th ...

. It began (and translated into English):

Response

The week after the manifesto appeared, the front page of the satirical weekly ''

Charlie Hebdo ''Charlie Hebdo'' (; meaning ''Charlie Weekly'') is a French satirical weekly magazine, featuring cartoons, reports, polemics, and jokes. Stridently non-conformist in tone, the publication has been described as Anti-racism, anti-racist, sceptica ...

'' carried a drawing attacking male politicians with the question "Qui a engrossé les 343 salopes du manifeste sur l'avortement?" ("Who got the 343 sluts from the abortion manifesto pregnant?"). This drawing by Cabu gave the manifesto its familiar nickname, often mistaken as the original title. For Maud Gelly,PDF
/ref> doctor and author, "A caricature meant at ridiculing politicians left a macho insult to qualify these women, and that tells a lot about the anti-feminism sometimes dominating the rewriting of the history of women's struggles." In 1971, the feminist group ''Choisir'' ("To Choose") was founded by

Gisèle Halimi Gisèle Halimi (born Zeiza Gisèle Élise Taïeb; 27 July 1927 – 28 July 2020) was a Tunisian-French lawyer, politician, essayist and Feminism in France, feminist activist. Biography Zeiza Gisèle Élise Taïeb was born in La Goulette, Tunisi ...

, to protect the women who had signed the Manifesto. In 1972, ''Choisir'' formed itself into a clearly reformist body, and the campaign greatly influenced the passing of the law allowing

contraception Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth contr ...

and legal abortion carried through by

in 1974.

Notable signatories

* Françoise Arnoul *

Brigitte Auber Brigitte Auber (; born Marie-Claire Cahen de Labzac , 27 April 1925) is a French actress who has worked on stage, film and television in Europe. Career Auber was born in Paris on 27 April 1925. She began her film career with the leading role i ...

Stéphane Audran Stéphane Audran (born Colette Suzanne Dacheville; 8 November 1932 – 27 March 2018) was a French actress. She was known for her performances in award-winning films such as ''The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie'' (1972) and ''Babette's Feast'' ...

* Colette Audry *

Tina Aumont Maria Christina "Tina" Aumont (February 14, 1946 – October 28, 2006) was an American actress. She was the daughter of French actor Jean-Pierre Aumont and Dominican actress Maria Montez. She made her acting debut in the British film ''Modesty Bl ...

Hélène de Beauvoir Henriette-Hélène de Beauvoir (6 June 1910 – 1 July 2001) was a French painter. She was the younger sister of philosopher Simone de Beauvoir. Her art was exhibited in Europe, Japan, and the US. She married Lionel de Roulet. When Hélène de ...

* * * *

Loleh Bellon Marie Laure Viole Bellon, generally known as Loleh Bellon, (1925–1999) was a French stage and film actress as well as a playwright. In 1949, for her role in Robert Desnos' ''La Place de l'Étoile'', she was awarded the ''Prix des Jeunes comédie ...

* Catherine Claude *

Iris Clert Iris Clert ( el, Ίρις Αθανασιάδη; Iris Athanasiadi; 1917 – 1986) was a Greek-born art gallery owner and curator. She owned the Galerie Iris Clert in Paris from 1955 to 1971. During its tenure, her gallery became an avant-garde hot ...

Geneviève Cluny Geneviève Cluny (born 18 April 1928) is a former French film actress. She appeared in both French New Wave films as well as popular mainstream commercial productions during the 1950s and 1960s. She is credited for the basic idea on which Jean-Luc ...

Lila De Nobili Lila De Nobili (September 3, 1916 – February 19, 2002) was an Italian stage designer, costume designer, and fashion illustrator. She was noted for her collaborations with leading stage and opera directors such as Luchino Visconti and Franco ...

* Lise Deharme * Christine Delphy *

Catherine Deneuve Catherine Fabienne Dorléac (born 22 October 1943), known professionally as Catherine Deneuve (, , ), is a French actress as well as an occasional singer, model, and producer, considered one of the greatest European actresses. She gained recogni ...

* Dominique Desanti *

Marguerite Duras Marguerite Germaine Marie Donnadieu (, 4 April 1914 – 3 March 1996), known as Marguerite Duras (), was a French novelist, playwright, screenwriter, essayist, and experimental filmmaker. Her script for the film ''Hiroshima mon amour'' (1959) ea ...

Françoise d'Eaubonne Françoise d'Eaubonne (12 March 1920 – 3 August 2005) was a French author, labour rights activist, environmentalist, and feminist. Her 1974 book, ''Le Féminisme ou la Mort'', introduced the term ecofeminism. She co-founded the Front homose ...

Arlette Elkaïm-Sartre Arlette Elkaïm-Sartre (1935 - 16 September 2016) was a French translator and editor, adopted by the writer Jean-Paul Sartre in 1964. Life Born in Constantine, an editor, she worked on the reports of the Russell Tribunal in the late 1960s. In ...

Françoise Fabian Michèle Cortes (born 10 May 1933), known professionally as Françoise Fabian (), is a French film actress. She has appeared in more than 100 films since 1956. In 1971, Fabian signed the Manifesto of the 343 The Manifesto of the 343 (), was a F ...

Annie Fargue Annie may refer to: People and fictional characters * Annie (given name), a given name and a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Annie (actress) (born 1975), Indian actress * Annie (singer) (born 1977), Norwegian singer The ...

Brigitte Fontaine Brigitte Fontaine, (born 24 June 1939) is a singer of avant-garde music. She has employed numerous unusual musical styles, melding rock and roll, folk, jazz, electronica, spoken word poetry, and world. She has collaborated with Stereolab, Mich ...

* Antoinette Fouque *

Claude Génia Claude Génia (1913–1979) was a Russian Empire-born French stage and film actress.Goble p.112 She also appeared in television productions later in her career. Selected filmography * ''The Honourable Catherine'' (1943) * ''Girl with Grey Eyes ...

Catherine Joly Catherine Joly is a French classical pianist, born in Belfort. Biography After a First Prize for piano obtained unanimously at the age of 15 at the , Joly was admitted at the Conservatoire de Paris in the class of Lucette Descaves, then in tha ...

Olga Kosakiewicz Olga may refer to: People and fictional characters * Olga (name), a given name, including a list of people and fictional characters named Olga or Olha * Michael Algar (born 1962), English singer also known as "Olga" Places Russia * Olga, Russia ...

Bernadette Lafont Bernadette Lafont (28 October 1938 – 25 July 2013) was a French actress who appeared in more than 120 feature films. She has been considered "the face of French New Wave". In 1999 she told ''The New York Times'' her work was "the motor of my e ...

Danièle Lebrun Danièle Lebrun (born 24 July 1937) is a French actress. Theater Filmography References External links * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lebrun, Daniele 1937 births Living people French film actresses French stage actresses People from Ardèche 2 ...

Violette Leduc Violette Leduc (7 April 1907 – 28 May 1972) was a French writer. Early life and education She was born in Arras, Pas de Calais, France, on 7 April 1907. She was the illegitimate daughter of a servant girl, Berthe Leduc, and André Debaralle ...

Marceline Loridan-Ivens Marceline Loridan-Ivens (née Rozenberg; 19 March 1928 – 18 September 2018) was a French writer and film director. Her memoir ''But You Did Not Come Back'' details her time in Auschwitz-Birkenau. She was married to Joris Ivens. Biography Marc ...

Françoise Lugagne Françoise Lugagne (1914–1991) was a French stage actor, stage, film actor, film and television actress. She was married to the Belgian actor Raymond Rouleau and appeared alongside him in the 1945 fashion house drama ''Paris Frills'' as his spur ...

Judith Magre Judith Magre (born 20 November 1926) is a French actress, born in Montier-en-Der, Haute-Marne Haute-Marne (; English: Upper Marne) is a department in the Grand Est region of Northeastern France. Named after the river Marne, its prefecture is ...

Geneviève Mnich Geneviève Mnich (born 19 February 1942), is a French actress. She has appeared in 80 films since 1972. She was born in Cuffies, Aisne, France. Selected filmography * ''Joséphine, ange gardien'' (2006) (1 Episode : "La Couleur de l'amour") * ...

Ariane Mnouchkine Ariane Mnouchkine (; born 3 March 1939) is a French stage director. She founded the Parisian avant-garde stage ensemble ''Théâtre du Soleil'' in 1964. She wrote and directed ''1789'' (1974) and ''Molière'' (1978), and directed ''La Nuit Mirac ...

Claudine Monteil Claudine Monteil (born 1949) is a French writer, women's rights specialist, historian, and a former French diplomat. Biography Monteil's mother, Josiane Serre, was a chemist who became the director of the Ecole Normale Superieure de Jeunes Filles. ...

Jeanne Moreau Jeanne Moreau (; 23 January 1928 – 31 July 2017) was a French actress, singer, screenwriter, director, and socialite. She made her theatrical debut in 1947, and established herself as one of the leading actresses of the Comédie-Française. Mo ...

Michèle Moretti Michèle Moretti (born 15 March 1940 in Paris, France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Amer ...

* Liane Mozère *

Bulle Ogier Bulle Ogier (born Marie-France Thielland; 9 August 1939) is a French actress and screenwriter. She adopted the professional surname Ogier, which was her mother's maiden name. Her first appearance on screen was in ''Voilà l'Ordre'', a short film ...

* Marie Pillet (

Julie Delpy Julie Delpy (; born 21 December 1969) is a French-American actress, film director, screenwriter, and singer-songwriter. She studied filmmaking at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and has directed, written, and acted in more than 30 films, includi ...

's mother) *

Marie-France Pisier Marie-France Pisier (10 May 194424 April 2011) was a French actress, screenwriter, and director. She appeared in numerous films of the French New Wave and twice earned the national César Award for Best Supporting Actress. Early life Pisier was ...

Micheline Presle Micheline Presle (; born Micheline Nicole Julia Émilienne Chassagne; 22 August 1922) is a French actress. She was sometimes billed as Micheline Prelle. Starting in 1939, she starred in over 50 French and English language films that were made in H ...

* Marthe Robert *

Christiane Rochefort Christiane Rochefort (17 July 1917 – 24 April 1998) was a French feminist writer. She was born into a left-wing working class Parisian family; her father joined the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War. Rochefort worked as a journ ...

Yvette Roudy Yvette Roudy (born 10 April 1929) is a French politician. She served as a member of the National Assembly from 1986 to 1993, and from 1997 to 2002, representing Calvados. She was the Minister of Women's Rights from 1981 to 1986. She sponsore ...

Françoise Sagan Françoise Sagan (born Françoise Delphine Quoirez; 21 June 1935 – 24 September 2004) was a French playwright, novelist, and screenwriter. Sagan was known for works with strong romantic themes involving wealthy and disillusioned bourgeois char ...

Delphine Seyrig Delphine Claire Beltiane Seyrig (; 10 April 1932 – 15 October 1990) was a Lebanese-born French actress and film director. She came to prominence in Alain Resnais's 1961 film ''Last Year at Marienbad'', and later acted in films by Francois ...

* Alexandra Stewart *

Gaby Sylvia Gaby Sylvia (March 24, 1920 – July 26, 1980) was an Italian actress who appeared in many French films and television series.Goble p.37 Partial filmography * ''Le ruisseau'' (1938) - Denise * '' Behind the Façade'' (1939) - Madeleine Martin ...

Nadine Trintignant Nadine Trintignant (née Marquand; born 11 November 1934) is a French film director, producer, editor, screenwriter, and novelist. She is known for making films that surround the topic of family and relationships, such as '' Ça n'arrive qu'aux a ...

Irène Tunc Irène Tunc (25 September 1935 – 16 January 1972) was a French actress and model. She was crowned Miss France in 1954. She was the wife of film director Alain Cavalier and she died in a car crash in 1972. She appeared in 35 films and telev ...

Agnès Varda Agnès Varda (; born Arlette Varda; 30 May 1928 – 29 March 2019) was a Belgian-born French film director, screenwriter, photographer, and artist. Her pioneering work was central to the development of the widely influential French New Wave film ...

* Ursula Vian-Kübler *

Marina Vlady Marina Vlady (born 10 May 1938) is a French actress. Biography Vlady was born in Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine to White Russian immigrant parents. Her father was an opera singer and her mother was a dancer. Her sisters, now all deceased, were the act ...

Anne Wiazemsky Anne Wiazemsky (14 May 1947 – 5 October 2017) was a French actress and novelist. She made her cinema debut at the age of 18, playing Marie, the lead character in Robert Bresson's ''Au Hasard Balthazar'' (1966), and went on to appear in several ...

Monique Wittig Monique Wittig (; July 13, 1935 – January 3, 2003) was a French author, philosopher and feminist theorist who wrote about abolition of the sex-class system and coined the phrase "heterosexual contract". Her seminal work is titled ''The Straigh ...

Anne Zelensky Anne Zelensky (born 24 October 1935, in Casablanca, Morocco) is a French feminist author and activist. As the daughter of a French colonial official in Ivory Coast, Côte d'Ivoire, she was exposed at a young age to the existing colonial racism ...

Legacy

It was the inspiration for a February 3, 1973, manifesto by 331 French doctors declaring their support for abortion rights:

We want freedom of abortion. It is entirely the woman's decision. We reject any entity that forces her to defend herself, perpetuates an atmosphere of guilt, and allows underground abortions to persist ...

References

{{reflist

External links

Rétrospective - Le manifeste des 343 salopes
at

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Feminism in France Abortion in France Political manifestos 1971 in politics 1971 in France 1971 documents 1971 in women's history