Midwives will be authorized to perform instrumental abortions in health establishments, through a decree that will be published no later than Thursday, December 14, which will allow them to fight “against difficulties in accessing” abortion in certain territories, the Government announced. this Tuesday, December 12.
“Beyond the capacity that has been given to them to perform medical abortions since 2016, this new ability constitutes a strong response to access difficulties,” greets the Minister of Health, Aurélien Rousseau.
A measure aimed at “solving the difficulties”
Voted in the March 2022 law aimed at strengthening the right to abortion, this new skill was tested for just over a year in 26 pilot facilities.
“I’m doing well wherever I go,” the minister responsible for Equality between women and men, Bérangère Couillard, rejoices to AFP.
During a visit to one of the first pilot establishments, the Pitié Salpêtrière hospital in Paris, this Tuesday, the minister declared that professionals “are prepared.”
“We will give the right to all midwives who are trained (…) I hope there are many, to be able to overcome the difficulties,” he added.
“There are some territories where abortion is not possible today because there is a lack of professionals,” the minister stressed, citing Mayenne in particular.
“Final discussions are underway” on the details of the decree, which must specify in particular the necessary training and conditions of exercise, he said. The text will appear no later than Thursday, the end date of the experiment.
Abortion up to 14 weeks of pregnancy.
Like doctors, midwives will be able to perform these instrumental abortions up to 16 weeks of amenorrhea or 14 weeks of pregnancy, as voted by parliamentarians, the minister promised. A first draft decree that reduced this period was criticized at the end of November by the midwives’ unions.
“For ten years I have seen women in consultation who request an abortion and many times they ask me: ‘Will you be there on the day of the surgery?’” says Delphine Giraud, coordinator of midwives at the “women’s house” in La Pitié. Salpetriere. .
“I am very happy to be able to tell them ‘it will be me’ because there is worldwide support,” the midwife rejoices.
Before, when the doctor responsible for instrumental abortions was on leave, “it was complicated, we had to mobilize other doctors, undress other sectors,” said Professor Marc Dommergues, head of the gynecology-obstetrics service.
“It allows organizational flexibility” and “was completely accepted” by patients, he added.
The Ministry of Health also “decided to increase by 25% the prices paid to health facilities for performing abortions, which had not been reviewed since 2016 and were significantly lower than the costs assumed by the facilities for this activity.” “he said in his press release.
These announcements come on the day the draft constitutional law on the freedom to resort to voluntary termination of pregnancy was presented to the Council of Ministers.
Source: BFM TV
