The Senate voted a provision authorizing midwives to perform medical abortions. In France, 50% of abortions are carried out by this means.
Midwives will soon be able to perform medical abortions. In full examination of the health bill, the senators voted in favor of the provision authorizing the profession to practice this intervention (article 31).
At first, the Social Affairs Commission had deleted the text, but the senators reinstated it in the bill in plenary session. In a press release, the Order of Midwives welcomed this decision which “will facilitate access to this right for many of our fellow citizens”.
Two different drugs
In 2013, 229,000 abortions were performed in France, half of which through a drug intervention. The medical abortion consists of taking two different drugs. The first, mifepristone or RU 486 (1), terminates pregnancy. The second, misoprostolprovokes, expels the embryo. She is the subject of two different medical consultations, states Health Insurance on its website.
Medicated abortion can be performed in city medicine (doctor’s office, health center, family planning) until the end of the seventh week of pregnancy (ninth week of amenorrhea). Beyond that, you must go to a health facility (hospital or clinic), until the end of the fifth week of pregnancy (seventh week of amenorrhea).
The intervention is about 95% effective and carries very little risk of complications. On the other hand, beyond seven weeks of amenorrhea, its effectiveness decreases. Medicinal abortion is 100% covered by the Health Insurance, but the patient (or the complementary ones) may be required to cover the costs of prior consultations.
The purpose of these latter is to provide women with a “reflection period” before performing an abortion, which should however be deleted. Indeed, the senators – and before them, the deputies – voted in favor of the disappearance of this period, considered infantilizing.
(1) Mifepristone is a synthetic steroid with antiprogestative action. It is used especially in pregnancy terminations, often in combination with misoprostol.
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