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On 21 December 1974, the French Parliament passed the Veil Act, promulgated on 17 January 1975, authorizing elective abortion under certain conditions. The 1974 Act was reviewed after five years and confirmed by Parliament on 31 December 1979. At the end of 1982, Parliament voted for elective abortion to be reimbursed by the French social security. More recently, the Act of 4 July 2001 relaxed certain provisions (see box). The 1974 vote reflected the trend of public opinion, which had gradually come round to the idea of a “liberal” law giving women explicit freedom to decide for themselves whether their pregnancy placed them in a “situation of distress”. Elective abortion is a medical procedure that raises specific ethical and philosophical issues: the right to life, ownership of one’s own body, the relation to motherhood and desired fertility, partner relationships, etc. In return for granting women the right to choose, the Act – exceptionally – gives doctors the right to refuse to undertake the procedure. Viewing termination as a final resort, the legislator hoped that the simultaneous spread of contraceptive use (legalized by the Neuwirth Act 1967 and made reimbursable just days ahead of the Veil Act) would Why has the number of abortions not declined in France over the past 30 years?