The draft law, which seeks to criminalise France's colonial rule in Algeria between 1830 and 1962, was introduced in the People's National Assembly, Algeria's lower house of parliament, on Saturday. The bill will go up for a vote on Wednesday, according to reports. Public broadcaster AL24 News reported that the draft, which contains five chapters comprising 27 articles, is based on the principles of international law that affirm peoples' right to legal redress and the achievement of historical justice.
Its text recognises that enforcement of previous laws "criminalising the use of, practice of, access to, and information about abortion" constituted "an infringement of the protection of women's health, of sexual and reproductive autonomy", as well as "of women's rights". The pre-1975 laws led to "numerous deaths" and caused "physical and moral suffering", it adds.