A Victim of French Demographics: Marie-Louise Giraud

On the 9th of June 1943, Marie-Louis Giraud, mother of two, is found guilty of attacking the unity of the country, the State, and the people of France. For that, she will be guillotined on the 30th of July on that same year.

Her crimes? Performing abortions.

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Following WW1, France was devastated. Its towns and economy were in shambles, and the lands surrounding the western fronts were poisoned by unexploded shells, gas, and heavy metals.

Mostly, the war had devastated its male population with 1.4 million soldiers killed and 4.3 million wounded, many severely. Young men (19-22 years old) were the worst affected with a 36% chance of dying, compared to the 5% of the general population. By the end of WW1, France’s population had decreased by up to 3 million and there was now 1.4 women for every man.

This further exacerbated France’s century-long population decline caused by low fertility rates and the devastating Napoleonic wars. While England and Germany’s population grew by around 54% and 60%, respectively, between 1871 and 1911, France’s only grew by 8%. By 1911, Germany had over 23 million more people than France. The population gap was so severe that Ferdinand Foch joked that the only way to permanently improve the relationships between France and Germany was to castrate some 20 million Germans.

This lack of fertility would have a major impact on French history. It contributed to military decline towards the end of the 19th century, the inability to mobilize for WW2, and the failure to allow women suffrage in France prior to WW2 as it was believed to reduce fertility rates in the countries that adopted it.

In 1896, following four years where national deaths surpassed births, the Alliance for the Growth of the French Population (ANAPF) was created. By 1920, the group grew to 40,000 members as abortion was criminalized. In 1923, a fine of up to 10,000 Francs, almost half the annual salary of a factory worker (about 22,000 FF), and up to 5 years in prison were given to whoever induced miscarriage while the mother herself faced up to 2 years in prison.

Following Nazi occupation in 1940, the situation only worsened. Poverty, food shortages, and the separation of many married couples as 1.9 million young Frenchmen were deported to Germany, including my grandfather, drastically increased the demand for “Faiseuse D’Anges” (Makers of Angels), which were women who performed illegal abortions. Marie-Louise Giraud was one of them and would do up to 27 of these procedures before being imprisoned following the death of one of her patients.

Furthermore, Vichy France, headed by Maréchal Pétain, grows much more conservative. It massively promotes family ideals, under its motto of “Work, Family, Fatherland” (Travail, Famille, Patrie) by glorifying the stay-at-home mom (little-known fact but it’s Vichy France that popularized Mother’s Day in France for that very reason), discouraging contraception, and further strengthening anti-abortion laws. On the 15th of February 1942, abortion is made a crime against the safety of the state, which basically equates it to treason, making it liable to the death penalty.

Despite 4,000 men and women charged with such crimes between 1942 and 44, Giraud would be one of the only two executed for it, by guillotine on the 30th of July 1943, the other being a man, Désiré Pioge. Their names would be largely forgotten from history, overshadowed by the many horrors of this war.

I find interesting how we often focus on the glorious aspects of history, such as important people and battles, ignoring the more discrete and systematic factors, such as economic growth or demographics. Yet, in the grand scheme of things, I believe these have a greater impact on history than a battle.

If you’re interested, a movie came out in 1988 dramatizing Giraud's life, ‘Story of Women’ (Une Affaire de Femmes). I haven’t seen it, but it has decent reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.

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