Auschwitz Survivor Who Wrote France's Abortion Law Dies

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Simone Veil, an Auschwitz survivor who as health minister of France championed the 1975 law that legalized abortion in that country, and who was the first woman to be chosen president of the European Parliament, died on Friday in Paris. She was 89.

The death was confirmed by President Emmanuel Macron, who offered condolences to her family on Twitter and called her life an exemplary inspiration.

“Her uncompromising humanism, wrought by the horror of the camps, made her the constant ally of the weakest, and the resolute enemy of any political compromise with the extreme right,” his office said in a statement.

Trained as a lawyer, Mrs. Veil (pronounced vayy) rose to the top ranks of public life, drafting legislation expanding the rights of prison inmates, people with disabilities and disadvantaged children, as well as measures that barred discrimination and expanded health benefits.

Opinion polls routinely showed Mrs. Veil to be one of the most admired people in France.

The abortion law, still known as the Veil Law, was one of the most divisive actions taken by the government of Mr. Giscard d’Estaing and his first prime minister, Jacques Chirac.