“Never forget that all it takes is a political, economic or religious crisis for women's rights to be called into question”. This famous quote from Simone de Beauvoir has never been overused because, everywhere, women's rights are under attack.
In Hungary, since September 15, women wishing to abort will have to listen to the fetus’ heartbeats.
In the United States, since June 24 and the Supreme Court’s reversal of jurisprudence, more than ten conservative states have banned abortion.
In Poland, the almost total ban on abortion has already caused the death of many women. The courts are cluttered with absurd procedures. On September 7, proceedings were initiated by the Polish public prosecutor’s office against 3 doctors who had refused an abortion to a woman who had suffered a miscarriage, causing her death. The activist Justyna Wydrzynska is summoned to court in October for distributing abortion pills. And Ukrainian refugee women are losing their country as much as their reproductive rights…
As a business leader, I have always been convinced of the economic, social and societal role of companies. In 2006, I created the RAJA-Danièle Marcovici Foundation, the first French foundation dedicated to the empowerment and emancipation of women, and active in almost 60 countries around the world. The fight against violence against women and girls is our priority. However, denying them their reproductive rights constitutes unacceptable violence, because it dispossess them of their bodies and their free will.
For 40 years, I have been managing the RAJA Group, a French and independent company founded by my mother in 1954 and a European distributor of packaging and office supplies. We have been in Poland for 12 years. I was challenged by the commitment of these American companies who did not hesitate to take their responsibilities, publicly, after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in the United States.
As President of the RAJA-Danièle Marcovici Foundation, I am committed to helping my employees to exercise their reproductive rights, including when they live and work in countries that deprive them of such rights. I undertake to offer my help by covering the medical, transport and accommodation costs for the group’s collaborators who need to terminate their pregnancy in a country where abortion is legal.
I usually prefer acting in the shadow. I am breaking this habit, on September 28, the International Safe Abortion Day, because I believe that today, the attacks against women’s rights are such that we can no longer commit ourselves other than by writing and saying, loud and clear: all women must be free to dispose of their bodies.
Danièle Kapel -Marcovici, President of the RAJA-Danièle Marcovici Foundation
