2024-09-25 14:04:01
Source : Drees, Franceinfo, OMS, ANSM, HAS
The number of voluntary terminations of pregnancy is at its highest level in France since 1990. In 2023, 243,623 IVGs were carried out, according to a study by the Directorate of Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics (Drees) published this Wednesday, September 25. This is 8,600 more abortions than in 2022. Thus, in 2023, the rate reaches 16.8 IVGs per 1,000 women aged 15 to 49. A much higher figure among 20-34 year-olds, at 28.2‰.
The number of abortions has increased throughout France, but territorial disparities are marked, varying from 1 to 4, between Pays de la Loire (lowest rate) and Guyana (highest rate). “In metropolitan France, they vary from 12.4‰ in Pays de la Loire to 23.3‰ in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. In the DROMs, the rates are between 19.4‰ in Mayotte and 48.9‰ in Guyana,” writes the Drees.
79% of medical abortions
41% of IVGs were performed outside of healthcare facilities in 2023. The medical method represents 79% of all abortions: 48% of them take place in healthcare facilities, 46% in private practices and 6% in healthcare centers or sexual health centers.
Medical abortion consists of taking two medications in succession: mifepristone, which terminates the pregnancy, then misoprostol, which expels the embryo. As a reminder, until 2005, all medical abortions were performed in health establishments. They were then authorized in the city, then in health centers and sexual health centers.
Until Covid-19, at the 8th and 9th week of amenorrhea (6th and 7th week of pregnancy), medical abortion had to be performed in a health facility. The rules had changed during the pandemic in order to meet requests for abortions, within the legal time limits, despite the health situation: it was now possible to perform medical abortions outside of health facilities (doctors, city midwives and authorized centers). The measure was maintained after Covid and could explain, only in part, the increase in the number of abortions.
9.5% of late abortions
In 2022, the time limit for recourse to voluntary termination of pregnancy was extended, going from 12 to 14 weeks of pregnancy (14 to 16 weeks of amenorrhea). What impact has this change had on the number of IVGs? So-called late IVGs, carried out from 12 weeks of amenorrhea, represent 9.5% of all IVGs carried out in healthcare establishments where three out of four IVGs take place between 5 and 9 weeks of amenorrhea. 2.5% of these hospital IVGs are affected by the extension of the legal time limit, or 1.5% of the total IVGs.
Sarah Durocher, president of the Family Planning Association, stressed on Wednesday morning on the microphone of Franceinfo yes “The increase in the number of abortions is not a problem” in itself, she regretted that there was “very little information about contraception” and too little sex education, especially at school.
At the end of August, the World Health Organization warned of a decline in condom use among young people. “Many countries still fail to provide age-appropriate comprehensive sexuality education and, where it does exist, it has come under increasing criticism in recent years due to the mistaken assumption that it encourages sexual behaviour, when in truth, equipping young people with the knowledge they need at the right time can optimise health outcomes through responsible behaviour and choices. “, criticized Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe.
Finally, the president of Family Planning also denounced on Franceinfo “a lack of access to health” whereas in some regions, there are sometimes long waits to see a gynecologist or midwife.
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