Right to abortion: "Women have and will always need to have an abortion"

Céline Géraud 10:41 a.m., June 28, 2022, modified at 10:46 a.m., June 28, 2022

After the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States last Friday, the deputies of the Nupes and those of the Renaissance group tabled a bill to include the right to abortion in the Constitution.

The goal: to symbolically consecrate and protect this right in the event of a change in the political balance.

In France, approximately one in three women has recourse to voluntary termination of pregnancy (IVG) in her lifetime.

"Fertility is not something that can be controlled 100%"

"The number of abortions in France is remarkably stable, it has decreased a little bit in recent years, but we are still above 200,000 abortions per year, which, in a country where contraception is still relatively easy to 'access and free in some cases, means that fertility is not something that can be controlled 100%, "explains Ghada Hatem, obstetrician-gynecologist, founder of the Maison des femmes de Saint-Denis.

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One in four pregnancies is terminated voluntarily and this concerns mostly women aged 20 to 29, says Magali Mazuy, researcher at the National Institute for Demographic Studies, in charge of abortion statistics.

"These young women enter into sexuality earlier, with more breakups, more reunions, adventures outside the couple, potentially without contraception. It is this growing diversification of the life course of women that implies that they are more often subject to the risk of unplanned pregnancy, whether they are on contraception or not", she underlines.

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The rejection of the pill and hormonal treatments in favor of more natural contraception also increases the risk of unwanted pregnancy.

Abortion remains an often painful choice for multiple reasons: contraception accident, financial precariousness, health problem... "Women have and will probably always need to have an abortion one day or another, but it affects all categories social, all ages, all professions", certifies Ghada Hatem.

"The only specificity that we could observe would be the women who arrive at the deadline or a little overdue. These are generally women who have had a history of violence, a history of precariousness who have had difficulty in decide early. But all the others, most women, in 95% of cases, decide very early, whatever their profile", explains the obstetrician-gynecologist.

Medical abortion represents 72% of cases

The three territories where the most abortions are recorded are Île-de-France, where specialized health professionals are more numerous and receive a quarter of interventions, ahead of the Rhône-Alpes region and the South-East.

A recourse to abortion which is multiplied by 40 in disadvantaged social categories.

Medical abortion, which consists of taking two different tablets to induce labor, most often in the very first weeks of pregnancy, represents 72% of cases.

Surgical abortion by aspiration, which can be performed up to 14 weeks of pregnancy, is in constant decline.

Thanks to prevention campaigns and easier access to the morning-after pill, young girls who are still minors have less and less recourse to abortion.