A group of doctors are asking for the possibility of aspiration abortion at 16 weeks of gestation. We take stock of the importance of this request, and on the podium.
The confinement made it difficult to access many of the necessary medical care and interventions. Among them, access to abortion is complicated due to the saturation of places where it can be performed and the difficulty of getting to these places because of confinement. As Ghada Hatem, gynecologist at the Maison des femmes recalled in a column published on our site: 'It is difficult to consult in the abortion centers that are still open. We can also be ashamed of explaining the reason to the police officer responsible for ensuring the containment is respected. You may find yourself facing a closed door because caregivers are sick and absent. We may have passed the term and consider an abortion abroad ”.
The number of unwanted pregnancies does not decrease and the caregivers fear to recover at the end of confinement many cases out of time.
A petition launched by doctors made it possible to authorize abortion at home, after teleconsultation, up to 7 weeks pregnant and to remove the 48-hour delay requirement for minors in order to limit travel. For the latter, special urine tests are prescribed to verify that the abortifacient drug worked. This saves patients from having to make additional trips, so that the intervention is picked up over one day.
Medicated abortion is now possible for up to nine weeks of gestation.
However, there is still one outstanding point: the possibility of aspiration abortion at 16 weeks of gestation. This is possible under general anesthesia and technically easy for trained doctors. The management of this intervention is on an outpatient basis: the patient can leave during the day.
A group of doctors has therefore re-launched a petition for access to abortion. Ghada Hatem, co signatory of the text recalls that “The future of an unwanted child is worrying, and having a child with an abuser puts you in his grip forever.
Being a doctor also means preserving the future. "
Find the forum here:
Dear colleagues, dear supporters,
You are to date 306 doctors and 3053 supporters to have signed the forum "Protect the rights of women and maintain access to abortion in times of epidemic of covid and confinement".
Thank you very much for your commitment with us.
If the abortion by teleconsultation has been validated and if the High Health Authority now authorizes drug abortions up to 7 weeks of pregnancy, we have however not received any response to our request to facilitate the organization of an IMG for medico-psycho-social reasons between 14 and 16 weeks of amenorrhea (abolition of compulsory consultation with a psychiatrist and the authorization of a doctor specializing in fetal medicine). In view of the absence of minors in our consultations and the overall drop in attendance, there will be no shortage of situations; a letter specifying this point was sent Friday, April 10, directly to Olivier Véran.
Of course, this delay will not resolve all situations; but abortion by aspiration under general anesthesia up to 14 weeks is technically easy to perform by trained doctors, and allows ambulatory care. Beyond this term, it is necessary to organize a mini childbirth whose modalities are radically different.
We therefore remain mobilized; you can very usefully continue to support our action, relay our platform, and mobilize the means that you think would be useful.
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Thank you for being with us.
Dr Philippe Faucher, CIVG manager Trousseau Hospital, president of REVHO
Dr Maud Gelly, CIVG Avicenne Hospital
Dr Ghada Hatem, Doctor-Chief of the Maison des Femmes de Saint-Denis
Dr Mélanie Horoks CIVG manager of the Maison des femmes de Saint-Denis
To sign the petition, it's here: http://www.ivg-covid.fr/