France Makes Contraception Free For Women Up To 25

In France free contraception will be available to women up till the age of 25, the government said Thursday. The measure will come into effect from next year, where young women will not be required to pay for doctor appointments, birth control tests, pills or other procedures.

Citing that a chief reason for a decline in the use of contraception among young women was "financial," French Health Minister Olivier Veran said, "It is unbearable that women cannot protect themselves, cannot have access to contraception if they want to make that choice because it is too expensive," as quoted by Reuters. 

This healthcare programme for women under 25 is an expansion of one that already exists for female teenagers up to age 18. Prior to that, the free birth control plan was accessible to girls only between 15 and 18.

The announcement comes ahead of the presidential election in France next year.

France Free Contraception Measure: A Bid To End Underage Abortions

Incumbent French President Emmanuel Macron's free birth control measure for teens and under 25s aims to tackle excess abortions and alleviate inequality in healthcare for women.

Alliance VITA, quoting study reports from France's Directorate for Research, Studies, Assessment, and Statistics, notes that abortion rates in the country have consistently charted upwards since 1995. In 2020, numbers reached 16.1 abortions per 1000 women (of childbearing age). The number of births in France has simultaneously dropped.

France first legalised abortion in 1975. The abortion law, pushed through in a major way by the country's late health minister and women's rights advocate Simone Veil, allows for the termination of pregnancy 12 weeks after conception.

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