Paris (AFP)
The deputies voted on Friday in favor of the development of birth centers, these autonomous structures where midwives carry out physiological (so-called "natural") deliveries, LFI and Communists warning of a "risk of competition" with public maternity hospitals .
Authorized on an experimental basis in 2015, eight structures of this type are currently located in six French regions with "positive results", according to the commentary accompanying the draft budget of Social Security in 2021.
The text provides for the creation of twelve new structures in two years, while the United States has 150, the United Kingdom 169 or Germany a hundred.
To develop these houses, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran insisted on the concept of "health security".
An amendment by the socialist Hélène Vainqueur-Christophe, specified by the government, thus emphasizes that these structures must be in "close proximity" to a partner maternity hospital, in order to allow urgent transfer in the event of a problem during childbirth.
Several deputies praised the development of these houses, which allows women to choose the type of childbirth that suits them.
The rebellious Caroline Fiat and the communist Pierre Dharréville, however, warned against a risk of "renunciation" or "competition" with public maternity hospitals and "closing small maternities".
"A birth center must necessarily be contiguous to a maternity hospital, so there is no competition between them," replied LREM rapporteur Thomas Mesnier.
The aim is to "meet an expectation", not "to encourage all women to give birth in birthing centers. Birthing centers carry out an average of 125 deliveries per year, so this will not really weaken the fabric of maternity hospitals" , he estimated.
© 2020 AFP