Among orthogenic professionals, satisfaction is unanimous after the publication, Wednesday April 24, in Official newspaper, of the new decree opening the possibility for midwives to carry out instrumental voluntary terminations of pregnancy (IVGs), within health establishments. Isabelle Derrendinger, president of the council of the order of midwives, greets a “double victory” : “It is a victory in favor of women’s rights, which will allow a significant improvement in their access to abortion, and also a victory for midwives, whose medical skills are recognized. »
It was not an easy thing. Since January 2016, they have been authorized to perform medical abortions, another method, now the majority. The expansion of their skills to the instrumental method, long reserved for doctors and gynecologists, was both desired by the profession and demanded for a long time by feminist associations which support women in their journey towards an abortion, convinced that This is a response to the access difficulties they observe on the ground.
The law of March 2, 2022, known as the “Gaillot law”, which made it possible to extend the time limits for recourse to abortion from twelve to fourteen weeks of pregnancy, provided for this development, after a preliminary phase of experimentation. The latter began in November 2022 and lasted more than a year, in 26 voluntary health establishments, giving rise to nearly 500 abortions carried out by midwives.
“Professional autonomy”
A first decree, published on December 16, 2023, was supposed to definitively enact the change. But the very restrictive terms of this – for example, they provided for the presence of four doctors in the event of a complication – sparked an outcry among professionals and in feminist circles. Their mobilization forced the government to review its copy.
“With the Abortion in Europe collective, women decide and several associations, we attacked the decree by filing an appeal with the Council of State”, explains Nathalie Trignol-Viguier, co-president of the National Association of Abortion and Contraception Centers. Although “sad to have had to go through this”, the general practitioner says to herself “delighted” of the new version of the decree, developed in consultation with professionals performing abortions. It is stipulated that midwives must be trained in this act and “what to do in the event of complications linked to the voluntary termination of pregnancy”.
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