Simone Veil

After graduating from Institut d'études politiques de Paris with a law degree, Veil spent several years practicing law. In 1956, she passed the national examination to become a magistrate.[1] She entered and held a senior position at the National Penitentiary Administration under the Ministry of Justice. She was responsible for judicial affairs and improved women's prison conditions and the treatment of incarcerated women.[11] In 1964, she left to become the director of civil affairs, where she improved French women's general rights and status.[1] She successfully achieved the right to dual parental control of family legal matters and adoptive rights for women.[1] In 1970, she became secretary general of the Supreme Magistracy Council (fr:Conseil supérieur de la magistrature).[11]

From 1974 to 1979, Veil was a Minister of Health in the governments of prime ministers Jacques Chirac and Raymond Barre: from 28 May 1974 to 29 March 1977, Minister of Health; from 29 March 1977 to 3 April 1978, Minister of Health and Social Security; and from 3 April 1978 to 4 July 1979, Minister of Health and Family.

She pushed forward two notable laws. The first, passed on 4 December 1974, facilitated access to contraception, the sale of contraceptives such as the combined oral contraceptive pill having been legalized in 1967.

The second, passed on 17 January 1975, legalized abortion in France, her hardest political fight and for which she is best known. The abortion debate was a particularly difficult time as those in favor of keeping abortion illegal launched aggressive personal attacks against Veil and her family.[1] However, since the passing of the law, many have paid tribute to Veil and thanked her for her courageous and determined fight.[1]

In 1976, Veil helped to introduce a ban on smoking in certain public places, and worked on the problem of medically underserved rural areas.[10]

In 1979, Veil was elected as a Member of the European Parliament in the first European parliamentary election. In its first session, the new Parliament elected Veil as its first President,[10] a position she held until 1982.[12] The archives concerning her term as President of the European Parliament are deposited at the Historical Archives of the European Union in Florence.[13]

In 1981, Veil won the prestigious Charlemagne Prize an award given to honour the contributions made by individuals to the unity of Europe.[14]

After the end of her term as president, in 1982, she remained a member of the European Parliament. She became Chair of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party until 1989. She was re-elected for the last time in the 1989 election, standing down in 1993.[12]

Between 1984 and 1992, she served on the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, and the Committee on Political Affairs. After standing down from these committees, she served on the Committee on Foreign Affairs and its related Subcommittee on Human Rights. Between 1989 and 1993, she was also a member of Parliament's delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, serving as its vice-chairwoman until 1992.[12]

From 31 March 1993 to 16 May 1995, Veil was again a member of the cabinet, serving as Minister of State and Minister of Health, Social Affairs and the City in the government of Prime Minister Édouard Balladur.[15] In the mid-1990s, she worked to help the disabled, HIV-positive patients, and mothers of young children.[10]

In 1998, she was appointed to the Constitutional Council of France. In 2005, she put herself briefly on leave from the Council in order to campaign in favour of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. This action was criticized, because it seemed to contradict the legal provisions that members of the council should keep a distance from partisan politics: the independence and impartiality of the council would be jeopardized, critics said, if members could put themselves "on leave" in order to campaign for a project.[16] In response, Veil said that she, the President of the Constitutional Council and colleagues had deliberated on the issue beforehand and they had given her permission to take her leave without having to resign. Being a staunch supporter of the European project, she believed others should not "ignore the historical dimension of European integration".[16]

In 1998, she was awarded as Honorary Dame of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) by the British government.[17] She was a Member of the Constitutional Council of France from March 1998 to March 2007.

In 2003, she was elected to the Board of Directors of the International Criminal Court's Trust Fund for Victims.[18]

In 2005, she was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award in International Cooperation.

In 2007, she was awarded the North-South Prize of the Council of Europe.

In 2007, Veil surprised many observers by declaring her support for the neo-conservative presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy. She was by his side on the day after he received 31 percent of the vote in the first round of the presidential elections that year.[19]

Veil entered the Académie française in 2008, the sixth woman ever to do so.[20] Veil joined the Academy's forty "immortals" at their 13th seat, originally the seat of Jean Racine. Her induction address was given in March 2010 by Jean d'Ormesson. On her sword, given to her as to every other immortal, is engraved her Auschwitz number (number 78651), the motto of the French Republic (liberté, égalité, fraternité) and the motto of the European Union (Unis dans la diversité).[21]

In 2008, she won the Charles V Prize, awarded by the Fundación Academia Europea de Yuste in honor of "her acknowledged merits in the struggle for the advancement of women's equality."

In 2010, she received the Coudenhove-Kalergi Badge by the Europa-Union Münster.[22]

She participated as jury member for the Conflict Prevention Prize awarded every year by the Fondation Chirac.[23]

In 2012, she was appointed a Grand Cross of the Légion d'honneur.[24]

In 2018, she was the subject of a €2 commemorative coin, which design included her deportation registration number, the European Parliament and the year "1975" signifying the legalisation of abortion.[25]