Gisèle Halimi

Gisèle Halimi (1927–2020) was a French-Tunisian lawyer, feminist activist, and politician. Her legal defense of women and campaigns against abortion criminalization helped make reproductive rights a public and political issue in France.

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Djamila Boupacha: An Algerian activist tortured by French forces during the Algerian War whose case became an international cause célèbre. Halimi defended Boupacha and exposed her torture, drawing attention to abuses by French forces.
Simone de Beauvoir: A French philosopher and writer whose feminist work analyzed women’s social and political subordination. De Beauvoir co-founded Choisir with Halimi and supported her campaigns for reproductive rights.
Criminalization of abortion: The use of criminal law to prohibit or punish abortion and those who provide or obtain it. Halimi challenged this legal framework by defending women prosecuted under France’s abortion laws.
Veil Law: The 1975 French law that legalized abortion under specified conditions, named for health minister Simone Veil. It delivered the national legal change Halimi and other campaigners had pressed for.
La Goulette: A coastal town near Tunis where Gisèle Halimi was born in 1927. Halimi’s childhood in this Tunisian town preceded her legal and political life in France.
Bobigny trial: A 1972 French abortion trial in which five women were prosecuted after a teenager obtained an illegal abortion. Halimi defended the accused and used the trial to challenge abortion criminalization.
Choisir la cause des femmes: A French feminist organization founded in 1971 to defend women prosecuted for abortion and advocate legal reform. Halimi co-founded and led this organization to combine legal defense with feminist campaigning.
Abortion in France: The history and legal regulation of abortion in France, including its legalization in 1975. The legal regime Halimi contested changed through campaigns and parliamentary reform.
French feminist movement: A movement challenging gender inequality in France through activism, political organizing, and cultural debate. Halimi’s organizations and legal campaigns became part of its early-1970s resurgence.
French Tunisia: The French protectorate established over Tunisia in 1881 and ended with Tunisian independence in 1956. Halimi grew up under the protectorate, a setting that informed her awareness of colonial power.