Abortion: the difference between France and the US

I just now learned about this, and thought it interesting enough to share in its own post. It's a great example of the ever-widening difference between the US and the rest of the civilized world.

French women didn't get the right to an abortion until 1974, two years after many American women. It was unpopular and only legalized after a French feminist named Simone Veil organized and vocalized and fought. She was used to fighting: she was the only member of her family to survive Auschwitz.

But here's the difference between France and the US. While abortion in France is kind of a "done deal," women's reproductive freedoms are under constant assault in the US, and the assault gets worse every passing year.

But Simone Veil? Died this week and is being buried in the Pantheon, resting place of France's heroes and one of the greatest honors the French government can bestow. Marie Curie is there (one of only five women). Victor Hugo, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Emile Zola. Rousseau and Voltaire are interred across from each other, locked in eternal debate for all eternity (which is kind of awesome).

She'll be buried with full state honors on June 30th. The funeral will be broadcast on live television. Meanwhile, we'll still be putting nurses at women's clinics in bullet-proof vests.

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/02/french-rights-icon-simone-veil-set-rare-pantheon-burial/