Biography
Boutin was born in Levroux, Indre. She entered politics in 1977 as a city counciller for Auffargis, in 1980 she was elected mayor. Boutin was elected to the National Assembly in 1986.
In 1993, Boutin founded the anti-abortion NGO Alliance pour les droits de la vie (ADV) (English: Alliance for Human Life), considered the largest pro-life organization in France. The same year, she became a consultant for the Pontifical Council for the Family headed by Cardinal Lopez-Trujillo. In 1998, Boutin became somewhat famous because of a five hour speech in opposition to the PACS domestic partnership plan, arguing that its adoption by the government would encourage homosexuality. She held a Bible during the speech, an image which would later become associated with her.
In 2002, Boutin who had been a member of the UDF party, joined the UMP when it was founded. In a UMP rally that same year, where Boutin spoke, ACT UP Paris protested with a banner calling Boutin homophobic.
In 2006, Boutin supported the "global license" flat-fee authorization for sharing of copyrighted files over the Internet in a heated parliamentary debate on the DADVSI law. She also has been an advocate for a guaranteed minimum income, as well as expanded housing rights (Droit au logement). She has considered the situation of prisons in France to be a scandal and has argued for a drastic reduction of inmates as well as improving their life-conditions.
In December 2006, Boutin announced that she would not be a candidate for the 2007 French Presidential election and pledged her support for the Conservative candidate Nicolas Sarkozy.
On 18 May 2007, after Sarkozy's victory in the presidential election, Boutin was named Minister of Housing and the City in the government of Prime Minister François Fillon. She has taken as advisors the pro-life activist Christine de Chefdebien, controversial for a 1992 anti-abortion occupation of a hospital, and the priest Jean-Marie Petitclerc.
Boutin has a liberal view on condom use in Africa to prevent AIDS, saying that contraceptives were necessary, appearing to contradict an earlier view by Pope Benedict XVI. She has however been critical of contraception outside of the AIDS context in Africa.
In October 2012, Christine Boutin stated that she remained strongly opposed to same-sex marriage, claiming that it would lead to polygamy. It was also revealed that she received 800.000€ from the UMP before deciding not to run for the French presidential election.
Read more about this topic: Christine Boutin
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