it’s a An important chapter opens in the history of Family Planning: the feminist association made the decision, on Tuesday, October 29, to launch a call for testimonies to find out if women, whether members or patients, have been victims of sexual violence . when they were cared for in the early days of the movement, in the 1960s, by Henri Fabre, doctor and co-founder of Planning. With more precise attention, Sarah Durocher, current co-president, explains about the period “from 1961 to 1975”which saw many men, doctors like Doctor Fabre, open and lead local planning associations. This could justify an extension of the call for testimonies.
At a time of questioning that affects the entire society about sexist and sexual violence, “How can we imagine that Planning is free from this type of actions? »asks the activist. And with good reason: in October 2021, the testimony of Irène (she does not want to give her name), who is now 84 years old, arrived at one of the branches in Grenoble, the cradle of the movement. The former professor recounts, almost sixty years 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, he received an email signed by several employees, saluting his bravery and pledging to “Follow up on your testimony”.
A meeting is planned in Paris with national representatives, but he doesn’t succeed. The date, her birthday, does not suit Irene, but she says she is available at any other time. It is the beginning 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 attended to, explains Sarah Durocher, to support the victim and identify whether other victims of this particular doctor, and possibly other doctors, elsewhere, wish to speak to us. »
“With my feet in the stirrups, I felt him against me”
This collection of testimonies will go through an email address created for this purpose by the company Egaé, specialized in sexual violence, to which the Emmaus movement has already appealed in relation to Abbé Pierre. “We will also try to understand what went wrong [dans le délai de traitement du témoignage d’Irène]Mrs. Durocher continues. Here we return to the problem of medical domination over women’s bodies. We are at the beginning of the research work. This is the sequel to #metoo. If you allow talking, including women of this generation, that’s fine. » It remains to be seen how many, given the age of the period, will be able to do so.
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