Nobel literature laureate Annie Ernaux has transformed her traumatic experience with illegal abortion into a powerful literary testament that continues to resonate across generations. In 1963, as a 23-year-old university student from a working-class background, Ernaux faced an unplanned pregnancy that threatened to derail her academic aspirations and literary ambitions.
Describing the experience as “a battle of life and death,” Ernaux recounts the terrifying isolation and desperation that characterized illegal abortions in pre-1975 France. With abortion criminalized and information completely inaccessible, young women faced impossible choices between dangerous self-induced procedures or seeking help from underground “angel-makers”—both options carrying severe legal and medical consequences.
Her meticulously detailed account in “Happening” (2000) documents the physical trauma of her abortion using a knitting needle and the subsequent medical emergency that required hospitalization. The book’s unflinching factual language serves as both historical record and political statement, preserving the memory of what she calls “the worst violence that could be inflicted on a woman.”
Ernaux’s literary courage extends beyond abortion to other taboo subjects including sexual assault, family secrets, and aging parents. Her distinctive minimalist style, developed while writing about her working-class father, reflects her commitment to social justice and giving voice to marginalized experiences.
Now 85, Ernaux advocates for memorializing the countless women who died from illegal abortions—estimated between 300,000 to one million annually before legalization. She recently proposed a monument to the Mayor of Paris, analogous to France’s unknown soldier memorial, recognizing these forgotten casualties.
Despite France’s constitutional protection of abortion rights, Ernaux warns against complacency, citing recent restrictions in US states and Poland. Her work remains on French school syllabi and has been adapted into award-winning films, ensuring new generations understand the brutal history preceding reproductive freedoms.