Waiting room at the family planning premises in Lille, October 23, 2023. ANOUK DESURY/LIGHTMOTIV POUR “LE MONDE”
It’s a important chapter in the history of Family Planning which is opening: the feminist association took the decision, Tuesday October 29, to launch a call for testimonies in order to find out if women, whether they were members or patients, have were victims of sexual violence when they were taken into care in the early days of the movement, in the 1960s, by Henri Fabre, a doctor and co-founder of Planning. With a more precise spotlight, explains Sarah Durocher, the current co-president, on the period “from 1961 to 1975”the one which saw many men, doctors like Doctor Fabre, open and direct local Planning associations. Which could justify an expansion of the call for testimonies.
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At a time of questioning that runs through all of society on sexist and sexual violence, “how can we imagine that Planning is free from such actions? »asks the activist. And for good reason: in October 2021, the testimony of Irène (she does not wish to give her name), 84 years old today, reached one of the branches in Grenoble, the cradle of the movement. She reports, almost sixty years to the day after the events, her attack by Doctor Fabre, “a personality of the movement”during a consultation. Irene is received, listened to. A few weeks later, she received an email signed by several employees, saluting her courage and committing to “follow up on his testimony”.
A meeting in Paris, with national representatives, is planned, but it does not succeed. The date, that of her birthday, does not suit Irene, but she says she is available at any other time. It’s the start of almost three years of waiting, which the octogenarian decides to break by contacting The World. What made Planned Parenthood react: “This testimony will be taken care of, explains Sarah Durocher, in order to support the victim and to identify if other victims of this particular doctor and, possibly, other doctors, in other places, wish to speak to us. »
“With my feet in the stirrups, I felt him against me”
This collection of testimonies goes through a telephone message and an e-mail address created for this purpose by the Egaé firm, specializing in sexual violence – the one which the Emmaüs movement has already appealed to regarding Abbé Pierre. “We will also try to understand what malfunctioned [dans le délai de traitement du témoignage d’Irène]continues Ms. Durocher. Here we come back to the problem of medical domination over women’s bodies. We are at the start of research work. This is the sequel to #metoo. If it allows, including women of this generation, to speak, that’s good. » It remains to be seen how many, given the age of the period, will be able to do so.
