Simone Veil (1927-2017)

Veil, who was Jewish, was born in Nice, France.  She was deported at age 16 along with her mother, father, brother and two sisters.  Her father and brother never returned.  After the was she studied law and became health minister of France.  She suffered a wave of sexist attacks and insults and she sought to convince the 490 MPs - among them only nine women-  to back a bill establishing a legal and medical framework for abortion, saving women from the perils of backstreet terminations.  In talking of her point of view as a woman about abortion, she once stated "I apologize to an assembly almost exclusively composed of men . . ."  The law was passed in 1975.