History
Planning Familial in Luxembourg was created in 1965 thanks to the efforts of activists committed to sexual and reproductive health.
It was founded by a group of people determined to promote access to information, healthcare and services related to sexuality, and to defend the reproductive rights of individuals.
Background
Planning Familial was practiced in Luxembourg long before the creation of the movement that bears this name.
In fact, as we know from the sermons of the time recorded in the Bibliothèque nationale, couples were practicing birth control from the start of industrialization in our country, around 1850. The methods used were not always very effective, and sometimes downright barbaric: coitus interruptus, use of the male condom in towns, clandestine abortions, child exposure and, if nothing was done, infanticide. The Forestry Department, as it was then called, was even notorious for infanticide.
So the problem was not new. Awareness of these problems, which often placed couples in dramatic situations, was first raised in Holland in 1898, and in Germany in 1930.
In France, the law of 1920, designed to encourage the birth rate after the loss of life in the First World War, prohibited both termination of pregnancy and contraception. The pioneers of the Mouvement Français pour le Planning Familial had to smuggle in diaphragms from England, the only female contraceptive methods available at the time. But as early as 1961, the Grand Orient de France, in a radio broadcast on France 3 on the subject of planning familial, quoted Dr. Flournoy, President of the Swiss Society of Psychiatry and Professor at the Faculty of Medicine in Geneva, as saying:
“A people that needs penal threats to support its birth rate and keep morals high is neither entirely healthy nor entirely of age.”
The term “responsible parenthood” indicates an awareness of the primary and inalienable responsibility of parents, who are the first to be involved in the gift of life.
Indeed, at the International Conference in Teheran in 1968, planning familial was declared one of the fundamental human rights. The notion of happiness and quality of life for both the couple and their unborn children is reflected in the names of various European associations of the time: la Maternité heureuse in France, la Famille heureuse in Belgium and Luxembourg.
Prehistory
In Luxembourg, as early as the 1960s, parents often reported the difficulties they were encountering with unwanted children in medical-pedagogical consultations.
At the Colloquium organized in Brussels from April 7 to 13, 1963 by the Ligue Internationale de l’Enseignement, de l’Éducation et de la Culture Populaire on the theme “Family problems in Western society, particularly in Europe”, a Luxembourg delegation met Dr. Lagroua Weill-Hallé, founding president of the Mouvement Français pour le Planning Familial (MFPF), and gave a presentation on “planning familial”. Contacts were established with the MFPF.
Initiatives by the cultural and popular education centers of Luxembourg and Bonnevoie, together with contacts with women’s associations and workers’ unions, led to a first lecture by Dr. Henri Clees on “Harmonische Ehe und Familienplanung” at the Casino syndical de Bonnevoie on January 19, 1965.
The conference is being repeated at the Maison du Peuple in Esch/Alzette in early February under the aegis of the Foyer de la Femme.
A number of meetings led to the drafting of a set of bylaws.
The first public event of the Mouvement Luxembourgeois pour le Planning Familial took place on April 29, 1965 at the Foyer Européen in Luxembourg. It was a round-table discussion on sex education, birth control, harmony and health in the home, with the participation of the following people: Dr Robert Angel, Dr Henri Clees, Kina Fayot, René Gregorius, Nicolas Klecker, Maître Robert Krieps and Jacques F. Poos.
The inaugural general meeting was held on June 1, 1965, and the articles of association were adopted.
Setting up the first Board of Directors
Chairman: Dr Henri Clees
Vice-presidents: Mrs. Lucienne Tholl and Mr. René Gregorius
Secretary: Mrs Kina Fayot
Treasurer: Mrs Andrée Schneider
Members : Mrs Yvonne Frisch, Mr Willy Dondelinger, Mrs Liliane Thorn-Petit, Mr Nicolas Klecker, Dr Robert Angel, Mr Robert Krieps, Mr René Bleser, Mr Jacques F. Poos, Mr Jos. Daubenfeld, Dr. J.-P. Pundel.
On November 10 1965, Dr Robert Angel gave a lecture at the Casino Syndical de Bonnevoie on the theme of “Planning Familial and preventive medicine”.
On February 5 1966, Dr Henri Clees organized a conference in Grevenmacher on “Das grosse Problem der Geburtenregelung”. The event was poorly attended.
In June 1966, the World Congress of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) was held in Copenhagen. Luxembourg was represented by Dr. Molitor-Peffer, and became an observer member of the International Planned Parenthood Federation.
At the end of 1966, a delegation from the Mouvement Luxembourgeois pour le Planning Familial visited the Centre on rue de la Pacification in Brussels. They were Dr Henri Clees, Madame Kina Fayot and Monsieur René Gregorius. In September 1966 and February 1967, Dr. Molitor-Peffer took part in refresher courses in planning familial consultation organized at the ULB by Professor Hubinont’s department.
In early 1967, Madame Weill, head of the Brussels Planning Familial Center, spoke in Luxembourg. There were few listeners.
At its General Meeting on January 11 1967, the Mouvement Luxembourgeois pour le Planning Familial decided to set up a Planning Familial Centre in Luxembourg, identical to the one in Brussels.
There was dissension on the Board of Directors about the creation of a Planning Familial Centre, with Dr Clees advocating an information center where neither medical examinations nor prescriptions should take place. He resigned and was succeeded by Mrs. Tholl.
From then on, Mr. René Gregorius held the presidency until 1981, when he was succeeded by Dr. Molitor-Peffer.
On May 27 1967, the first Planning Familial Center opened its doors at no. 3 avenue Pescatore. The opening was attended by Mrs Joan Rettie – Secretary General of the IPPF, Professor Hubinot and Mary Calderone-Steichen, daughter of the famous Luxembourg photographer Edward Steichen (The Family of Man) and pioneer of Planning Familial in the USA.
The IPPF allocated 80,000 Luxembourg francs as start-up aid to the young Movement, and the commune of Luxembourg covered half the rent. The remainder was to come from membership fees. All staff – social worker, secretary and doctor – worked on a voluntary basis.
Starting problems
Even before the Center opened, the Collège Médical objected to the presence of a doctor who would examine clients and prescribe contraceptives, arguing that this was unfair competition and contrary to professional ethics. Further alerted by the gynecological society, the Center’s doctor was summoned to appear before the Medical College. Knowing their hostility, he refused, which was considered a disciplinary offence. A series of warnings from the Conseil de Discipline and then the Conseil Supérieur de Discipline followed. The proceedings lasted 4 years, and the case was even referred to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. In 1973, public opinion having taken up the cause of Planning Familial, the doctor went before the Collège Médical, which assured him of its benevolence towards his activities.
Similar cases occurred in France and Germany. For example, Dr. Fabre of Grenoble, founder of the local Planned Parenthood organization, even had to undergo a temporary suspension because of his commitment to Planned Parenthood.
The total number of customers in the first year was 23. Apart from the “Tageblatt”, no newspaper opened its columns to Planning. But on Luxembourg radio, Mr Nic. Weber supported us from the start, and Madame Aline Putz lent us her women’s column on Saturday afternoons. The public’s perception of our activities was extremely varied. One day, for example, a group of parents came to see us to see if we could find a state civil servant in his early thirties who would marry their very shy daughter who was waiting quietly in the car… There were no marriage agencies in Luxembourg at the time. Another day, a woman refused to have her umbilical hernia operated on because, she said, she would have no more children.
In the years that followed, the number of clients grew rapidly, with recruitment mainly by word of mouth, as it still does today. Teenagers were brought to the Planning Center for sex education sessions. The Sassenheim Kannerschlass was one of the first. However, we were told that we could explain everything to them, provided we told them afterwards that they shouldn’t do it. An appointment was also made with the Centre du Rham. But at the last moment, we were told that they had changed their minds and that the chaplain would take care of the matter. Little by little, the high schools opened their doors to us, either as part of their biology courses, or as part of their religion or secular ethics courses.
Madame Frieden, Minister for the Family, supported us and was one of the first ministers to grant us a solid subsidy of 100,000 Luxembourg francs. The Minister of Education, Monsieur Jean Dupong, assured us of his moral support and granted us 20,000 Luxembourg francs. The Fonds de Secours Grande-Duchesse Charlotte provided us with regular subsidies, as did the Commune de Luxembourg, which, apart from paying half the rent, gave us extraordinary grants every year.
Mistrust and hostility on the part of the medical profession, especially the majority of gynecologists, persisted for many years, but in 1974 the Planning activity report was published for the first time in “Le Corps Médical”, the press organ of the Association des Médecins.
In 1972, the Planning doctor was officially appointed Luxembourg delegate to a WHO international conference on the role of maternal and child health services in planning familial, held in Ljubljana, Yugoslavia.
Research work
Numerous clinical studies were carried out at the Centre de Luxembourg, either on its own or in collaboration with other institutions such as INSERM in Paris, the ULB Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, or at the request of the World Health Organization in Geneva. Several studies were published in the Bulletin de la Société des Sciences Médicales in the Grand Duchy, in Gynécologie Obstétrique, the bulletin of the Société Française de Gynécologie et d’Obstétrique, and more often in Sexualmedizin, published by the Medical Tribune in Wiesbaden. The latter often chooses our articles as editorials.
In 1975, an international symposium on psychosomatic gynecology and sexology was held in Luxembourg. The Luxembourg Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics asked the Planned Parenthood doctor to speak on “Adolescent Sexuality”.
This text, translated into German, was also published in Sexualmedizin under the title “Halb Kind, halb Frau”.
International relations
As early as 1968, the doctor at the Luxembourg Center was a prescribing physician for the French Planning Familial organization. Many French doctors were hostile to contraception at the time, and we were asked to take on this task for the neighbouring departments of Moselle and Meuse. At first, the annual meetings of the Mouvement Français pour le Planning Familial were attended by just a few dozen doctors, and took place more or less clandestinely. But even as late as 1974, during the International Congress of Sexology in Paris, the CRS controlled the entrance to the Faculty of Pharmacy, the congress venue. Nowadays, thousands of doctors attend contraception study days every year, and France’s most prestigious employers address the issue.
Since its foundation, Planning Familial Luxembourgeois has been a member of IFRES (Institut pour la formation, la recherche et l’étude sur la sexualité) as well as the Société Française de Sexologie Clinique and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sexualforschung. We also enjoy excellent relations with the Swiss Society for Planning Familial.
International relations are very important, as they enable us to compare scientific and practical experience between countries. Every year, the IPPF brings together delegations from member associations and discusses various topics in its medical and pedagogical committees.
In 1971, the annual meeting took place in the beautiful city of Beirut, still intact at the time, and it was there that the Mouvement Luxembourgeois pour le Planning Familial obtained its “full membership” of the Federation.
Refresher courses and training
Continuing education is essential for Planning doctors. We have been attending courses at Frankfurt University since 1974, at Heidelberg since 1981 and at Düsseldorf University for 18 months. Knowledge acquired abroad and personal experience in contraception and medical sexology are regularly shared with Luxembourg doctors who request it, whether general practitioners or psychiatrists.
Since 1975, Planning doctors have been in charge of health and sex education for Luxembourg army recruits at the Härebierg. The aim is to inform them about sexually transmitted diseases and their prevention, and the courses also include general information on human sexuality.
Since 1978, when the Council of Europe included the concepts of planning familial and sexology in midwifery training, Planned Parenthood doctors have been responsible for teaching these subjects to student midwives at the State Paramedical School.
Team expansion
In 1973, Madame Gaby Delvaux joined us as a marriage counselor, extending our activities to couples suffering from marital conflicts. Our secretary, Tilly Thimmesch, had been training for 3 years as a marriage counselor in Brussels. She was now in charge of sex education sessions for classes coming to the Planning Center.
In 1978, an analytical psychologist joined us, enabling us to extend our services to the psychological problems so often at the root of relationship and sexual difficulties.
From 1973, other doctors came to work with us. But everyone still worked on a voluntary basis. Very cramped in the small apartment on rue Pescatore, we moved in 1977 to 2 apartments on the 2nd floor at 18-20 rue Glesener. One apartment is used for medical consultations, the other for marital and psychological counseling. A classroom is available for students, and a library is available to the public for the loan or sale of books at purchase price. The list is regularly updated.
Official recognition of Planning Familial
With the advent of a liberal-socialist government in 1974, Planning Familial was finally officially recognized. Henceforth, the doctors were paid on an hourly basis, as were the marriage counselor and the psychologist. Staff salaries, rent and utilities are paid by the Ministry of the Family.
On November 15 1978, the law on sexual information, prevention of clandestine abortion and regulation of voluntary interruption of pregnancy was passed. Within the framework of this law, an agreement was signed between the Government and the Movement. From then on, our centers and activities were guaranteed the necessary funding.
The law also provided for the production of a guide to sexual information and contraception, maternity, preventive medicine and legal issues relating to couples and pregnant women. This was the famous “Aimer” brochure, for which we wrote most of the text. We’ll never forget the controversy this brochure caused at the time!
Center expansion
The law of November 15 1978 also envisaged the creation or subsidization of regional centers throughout the country to cover the needs of the population as widely as possible.
At the end of 1976, a planning center was inaugurated in Esch-sur-Alzette.
In 1979, another center was opened in Ettelbrück and, on the initiative of socialist women, liberal women and youth movements, an office was also opened in Differdange at the Centre médico-social.
Director: Céline Gérard
Assistant Director: Émilie-Constance Kaiser