The Manifesto of the 343 Sluts (le manifeste des 343 salopes), is a declaration signed by 343 women admitting to having had an abortion, thereby exposing themselves to criminal prosecution. The manifesto appeared in the French magazine Le Nouvel Observateur on April 5, 1971.
The text of the manifesto was written by Simone de Beauvoir. Here’s the beginning:
“One million women in France have an abortion every year.
Condemned to secrecy, they have them in dangerous conditions when this procedure, performed under medical supervision, is one of the simplest.
These women are veiled in silence.
I declare that I am one of them. I have had an abortion.
Just as we demand free access to birth control, we demand the freedom to have an abortion.”The women above are Françoise Sagan, Simone de Beauvoir, Gisèle Halimi & Catherine Deneuve.
