From January 1, 2022, contraception will now be free for women up to 25 years old, and no longer reserved for underage girls, announced the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, this Thursday in the 4 Truths on France 2.
The Minister of Health justified this measure by “the decline in the use of contraception” among young women, in particular because it “costs too much”. “There will be support for hormonal contraception, the biological assessment that can go with it, the prescription consultation, and all the care that is related to this prescription,” detailed Olivier Véran.
“An age that corresponds” to “more autonomy”
This expansion of free education represents “an effort of 21 million euros” per year, from January 1, he said. The bar was set at 25 because “it is an age which corresponds, in terms of economic, social and income” to “more autonomy”, added the minister. “This is also the age when you will definitively leave the complementary health care system in your home”.
Free contraception had already been granted since 2013 to young girls aged 15 to 18, whose rate of abortion (voluntary termination of pregnancy) has since dropped significantly, from 9.5 to 6 per 1,000. between 2012 and 2018.
Since August 2020, it has been extended to those under 15. To justify the extension to children under 15, the government indicated at the end of 2019 that “each year, nearly 1,000 young girls aged 12 to 14 are pregnant in France” and that “among these pregnancies, 770 end in abortion “.