Faced with hundreds of amendments tabled by the right, the PS withdrew a text which proposed to extend the legal period for abortion (Voluntary Termination of Pregnancy) to 14 weeks.
- The text provided for extending the period for access to abortion until the 14th week of pregnancy
- This measure, carried by the left, is debated among politicians and many health professionals have opposed it.
By tabling hundreds of amendments, right-wing deputies halted consideration by the National Assembly at second reading of the text authorizing access to abortion up to the 14th week of pregnancy, scheduled for Thursday, February 18. A political action which arouses the indignation of the left, carrier of this bill.
500 amendments
“Examining 500 amendments implies between 18 and 20 hours of debate, but our parliamentary day only includes 11:30 a.m. Consequently, it will not be possible to examine these amendments”, regrets Valérie Rabault, president of the Socialists and Related Parliamentary Group, quoted by France 24. The Tarn-et-Garonne MP adds: “it’s obviously heartbreaking and above all a waste of time to advance women’s rights.”
MPs Marie-Noëlle Battistel (PS) and Cécile Muschotti (LREM), authors of the report at the origin of the controversial bill, recommend “to extend the time for surgical abortion by two weeks, from twelve to fourteen weeks of pregnancy, in order to prevent women from facing difficulties at the start of the process (medical wandering, delays in appointments you too long…), find themselves out of time and unable to have an abortion performed in France.”
5,000 French women would have to go abroad to have an abortion
Timing problems aggravated by the coronavirus crisis, but not only. “In France, the main explanation for the difficulties of access to abortion is essentially the result of lack of interest in an undervalued medical act. note the deputies, who underline: “only 2.9% of general practitioners and gynecologists and 3.5% of midwives” performed an abortion in 2018.
Nearly one in three women will have an abortion in her lifetime. The number of abortions in France fluctuates between 225,000 and 230,000 each year, figures that have been stable since 2001. Each year, 3 to 5,000 French women are forced to go abroad, particularly to Spain and the Netherlands. , in order to abort once the legal 12 weeks have elapsed. A costly approach, which in fact creates unequal access to this type of care.
Many health professionals are opposed to this bill
However, many health professionals are opposed to this bill, in particular because at 14 weeks of pregnancy, the fetal skull is already formed. The Academy of Medicine also ensures, in a press release published on October 10, 2020, “that by extending this period to sixteen weeks of amenorrhea (absence of menstruation) – i.e. fourteen weeks of gestation – we increase the use of surgical maneuvers which can be dangerous for women and of greater dilation of the cervix, likely cause long-term complications, such as premature delivery.” For the institution, this measure would even be counter-productive, since it “does not respond to any legitimate request from women who, on the contrary, hope for faster care, with the risk of increasing the delay of their process.“
Same story with the National Council of the College of Physicians, which, in a press release also published on October 10, 2020ensures that this measure “will not guarantee unhindered access to abortion“, and that on the contrary it is necessary “ensure, at any point in the territory, the provision for women of material and professional means of quality care.”
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