Giraud was convicted in Vichy France and was guillotined for having performed 27 abortions in the Cherbourg area on 30 July 1943.
Marie-Louise Giraud, at the age of 39, was guillotined on the morning of 30 July 1943, in the courtyard of the prison de la Roquette in Paris by executioner Jules-Henri Desfourneaux for having performed 27 abortions in the region of Cherbourg.
In 1935, paralleling a similar movement in the United States, Dr. Jean Dalsace opened Suresnes (Hauts-de-Seine), the first birth control clinic.
Economic deprivation, food shortages, and the separation of a large number of married couples (1.9 million French prisoners of war interned in Germany) led to pregnancies - out of wedlock or not - becoming fewer, but there was a greater demand for abortions, frequently for the victims of forced relationships with the occupying force.
At the same time in 1942, the recently created College of Physicians was allowed to perform abortions not only if the mother's life was in danger, but also when her health was seriously compromised.