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Lucien Neuwirth

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Lucien Neuwirth
Member of the French Senate for Loire
In office
1983–2001
Member of the National Assembly
for Loire's 2nd constituency
In office
1958–1981
Succeeded byBruno Vennin
Personal details
Born(1924-05-18)18 May 1924
Saint-Étienne, France
Died26 November 2013(2013-11-26) (aged 89)
16th arrondissement of Paris, France
Political partyRPR
Spouse(s)Marinette Didier
​
(m. 1999)​
Children1
EducationLycée Claude-Fauriel

Lucien Neuwirth (18 May 1924 – 26 November 2013) was a French politician first elected to the French National Assembly in 1958. His namesake, the Neuwirth Law legalized birth control in France on 28 December 1967.

Biography

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Born in 1924, he joined the French Resistance in 1940 and was arrested, he later escaped through Spain.[1] He was in London in 1944, where he discovered birth control which was then banned from France.[2] He joined the paratroopers and fought in Brittany, Belgium and the Netherlands where he miraculously survived a firing squad in 1945.[1]

After the war, he joined the Rally of the French People and was elected in Saint-Étienne city council.[2] During his terms, he learned how many couple problems were caused by an unwanted birth.[1] As a member of the military reserve force, he spent some time in Algiers around 1958 and helped in the negotiations which led to the end of the French Fourth Republic.[1]

He was elected to the French National Assembly in 1958.[3] With some help from the French birth control movement (Mouvement français du planning familial), he wrote a law draft to legalize birth control in 1966.[1] He faced a violent opposition in his political family, notably the government, and successfully pleaded the case to the general De Gaulle himself.[1] The Neuwirth Law was finally voted with left-wing support[2] on 19 December 1967.[4]

He stayed in the National Assembly until the pink wave of 1981, and was elected to the Senate in 1983.[3] His main topic in his last years was palliative care, for which he supported two laws in 1995[1] and in 1999.[2] He died on 26 November 2013 aged 89.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h André Passeron; Gaëlle Dupont (2013-11-26). "Mort de Lucien Neuwirth auteur de la loi sur la pilule". Le Monde (in French). ISSN 1950-6244. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
  2. ^ a b c d Anna Cuxac (December 2017). "Lulu la Pilule". Causette (in French). No. 84. pp. 56–57.
  3. ^ a b Le Point, ed. (26 November 2013). "Mort du père de la pilule contraceptive Lucien Neuwirth". lepoint.fr (in French).
  4. ^ Gaëlle Dupont (2017-12-19). "50 ans de la loi Neuwirth : " On ne voit pas tout le chemin parcouru "". lemonde.fr (in French). Retrieved 2017-12-19.


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