Lucien Neuwirth

Lucien Neuwirth (18 May 1924 – 26 November 2013) was a French politician first elected to the French National Assembly in 1958. His namesake, the Neuwirth Law legalized birth control in France on 28 December 1967.

Born in 1924, he joined the French Resistance in 1940 and was arrested, he later escaped through Spain. He was in London in 1944, where he discovered birth control which was then banned from France. He joined the paratroopers and fought in Brittany, Belgium and the Netherlands where he miraculously survived a firing squad in 1945.

After the war, he joined the Rally of the French People and was elected in Saint-Étienne city council. During his terms, he learned how many couple problems were caused by an unwanted birth. As a member of the military reserve force, he spent some time in Algiers around 1958 and helped in the negotiations which led to the end of the French Fourth Republic.