A Jewish lawyer and mother of five is the newly elected speaker of France’s National Assembly and the first woman to ever hold that position.
Yael Braun-Privet, 51, whose grandparents fled Eastern Europe in the 1930s to escape the Nazis, is now the fourth-highest-ranking official in France after the president, prime minister and senate speaker.
She formerly served as the president of the National Assembly law commission.
In a speech on Tuesday after her election was announced, Braun-Privet responded to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last week to overturn the Roe v. Wade ruling that guarantees the federal right to an abortion.
“Nothing should be taken for granted. History is made of great progress but is always under threat of being reversed,” said Braun-Privet, according to media reports. “This right was fought for and was inalienable. It is my conviction as a woman today that we need to be the watchdog so that it stays in place forever.”