French MPs pass bill to pay for abortions

27 Oct 2012, 5:17 pm   -   Source: AAP
French MPs have voted to fully reimburse all abortions and to make contraception free for minors. (AAP)

French MPs have voted to fully reimburse all abortions and to make contraception free for minors. (AAP)

A majority of MPs in the French lower house has voted to fully reimburse all abortions.

France's lower house has voted to fully reimburse all abortions and to make contraception free for minors.

National medical insurance currently pays in full for abortions for minors and the poor, while other women are reimbursed for up to 80 per cent of the procedure's cost, which can be as much as 450 euros ($A570).

Contraception is partially reimbursed.

The bill passed by the National Assembly would make all abortions free and would also pay for contraception for those between 15 and 18. It now goes to the Senate, where it is likely to pass.

"Women who want to stop an unwanted pregnancy have the right to be covered: The enactment of the right to choose to halt a pregnancy is an obligatory state service," the bill's language says.

Some groups complain that price is only one impediment to abortion access. They say too few doctors offer the procedure and there needs to be more information about who does.

Under the bill, reimbursements would not go beyond (euro) 450 - and some medical service providers in France charge more than that for an abortion.

While some segments of French society oppose the right to abortion, the issue rarely makes headlines.

France is among the European countries that allow minors to have abortions without parental consent.

In 1988 it was the first country to introduce RU-486, which terminates pregnancy by causing the embryo to detach from the uterine wall.

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