Following a one-year experiment in 26 French sites, the authorization for midwives to practice instrumental abortion in health establishments will be generalized. The Minister of Health, Aurélien Rousseau, announced that a decree would be issued this week. This measure is a response to the difficulties of access to abortion.
The law strengthening the right to abortion, passed in March 2022, approved this decision. Since 2016, midwives have been able to perform medical abortions. The extension of their prerogatives aims to improve access to abortion in areas lacking practitioners, according to the Minister of Equality between Women and Men, Bérangère Couillard.
Aurélien Rousseau's announcement coincides with the presentation of the constitutional bill on the freedom to resort to abortion to the Council of Ministers. Only trained midwives will be able to perform an instrumental abortion, like doctors, and will not be able to intervene beyond 16 weeks of amenorrhea, i.e. 14 weeks of pregnancy.
 Sophie de Duiéry
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14/12/2023 | 
