"Have you come to stir up bad memories?" Fortunately, a warm gaze accompanied Micheline's words (who chose to remain anonymous), 95, as she welcomed Le Monde into her home at the end of December 2024. With snow-white hair and a sharp mind, the woman born in 1929, mother of three, grandmother of two, and great-grandmother for five years, had agreed – with the help from her daughter Jeanne (whose name, like her daughter Alice's, has been changed) – to share her personal experience with abortion. She had hesitated due to the "shame" she still felt, even 60 years later.
It had all started with a call for readers' experience published on Le Monde's website, inviting them to share their family stories on the 50th anniversary of the January 17, 1975 law, known as the "Veil law," which decriminalized abortion. "My mother is 95. I'm 69. My daughter is 42. All three of us had abortions at different times and under very different conditions." Thus began the brief text titled "Abortions From Mothers to Daughters," sent by Jeanne, 69, recounting their shared story in summary form.
After a few phone conversations, a meeting was arranged. As every year, the family had gathered in Alsace for the holidays, at the big house where Micheline now lives alone, since the death of her husband. In the living room, a large Christmas tree still drooped under colorful ornaments. Laughter from the cartoon Micheline's 5-year-old great-granddaughter was watching drifted in from a nearby room.
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