After five consecutive years of increase, the number of voluntary termination of pregnancy [IVG] decline in Ile-de-France. “The health crisis, particularly the first confinement, has led to a drop in the number of pregnancies, a decline in the use of abortion and a drop in the birth rate in 2020”, advances the Regional Health Observatory (ORS) Île-de- France in his latest “Focus on health”. The region is one of those where the use of abortion is the highest in France. She knows “a 5.6% drop in the use of abortion […]compared to 2019”, details the observatory.
“Territorial disparities are observed with a sharp reduction in the use of abortion among Parisians but a less marked evolution in Seine-et-Marne”, specifies all the same the ORS. In the region, it is in the department of Seine-Saint-Denis that the number of abortions is the highest.
A “not impressive” drop at the Lilas maternity hospital
However, the white corridors of the Lilas maternity hospital (Seine-Saint-Denis) continue to see “patients, who have come for a voluntary termination of pregnancy, who arrive early in the morning, around 8.30 a.m., then return in the afternoon for their intervention”, says Céline Le Negaret, midwife for twenty-seven years at the Lilas maternity ward and member of Family Planning. Having campaigned for the right to abortion before it was legalized in 1975, the staff of the Lilas maternity hospital places the fight for abortions at the heart of its identity. It now performs more than 10% of surgical abortions in Seine-Saint-Denis. “Last year, out of the 8,500 abortions performed in the department, we did nearly 900,” says Céline Le Negaret.
Over the past two years “the reduction in the use of abortion is there but it is not so impressive”, estimates the midwife. Maternity staff performed 828 abortions in 2020, 915 abortions the previous year. And, “the numbers are fairly stable again,” she says. However, our service is not necessarily the most representative. “Regularly threatened with closure, the Lilas maternity hospital is in a delicate position. “Many don’t come anymore, because they think we’re already closed,” explains Cécile Le Negaret. Maternity benefited, last April, from an extension of the right to exercise, granted by the Regional Health Agency (ARS).
More medical abortions
A midwife by profession, Cécile Le Negaret chooses to prepare the interventions of a practitioner and does not perform abortions herself. However, since 2016, midwives have been authorized to perform medical abortions, prescribed by doctors. Also, “the idea that medical abortion is simpler has spread a lot,” says Céline Le Negaret. And the year 2020 is distinguished “by a marked drop in the number of abortions carried out in health establishments, while medical abortions outside establishments have increased at the same rate as in previous years”, confirms the Directorate of Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics (Drees).
“But ‘medicated’ isn’t always best, especially for women in the know,” warns the midwife. And to add: “The closer we get to nine weeks [date limite pour une IVG médicamenteuse], and the more the patient will have significant pain. And then, you have to be prepared for what you can see during the eviction. »
At nine weeks of pregnancy, for example, an embryo measures 2.5 centimeters and can be identified with the naked eye. For her, “it is important to plan the steps on a case-by-case basis, and to adapt them to the needs of each one”. It should be noted that in Lilas as in Ile-de-France, the decline in the use of abortion mainly concerns young underage women. In 2020, as for five years, the increase is maintained among women aged over 35.