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“What happened?”, “Didn’t you realize it before?”, “But it’s already August. Pffff”. Even though it is considered a right in France, having an abortion can easily become complicated at certain times of the year. For Brut, journalist Fanny Lesbros wanted to see how it was going in practice. And this is what she had to face.
Abortion is sometimes an obstacle course and more particularly in August, a time of year when there are many nursing staff on leave as well as closed centres. Medical deserts, such as the town of Pithiviers, in the Centre-Val de Loire, also push women to travel further and further to have an abortion.
Although abortion is a legal and recognized right in France, having an abortion, especially during the summer season, can sometimes be complicated. With few doctors and caregivers and medical deserts, some women are sometimes forced to travel hundreds of kilometers before finding a center. “There is really a complicated situation after the Covid and a complicated situation concerning the hospital where we see that the professionals are exhausted and that… Well, there it is, it’s just in time. We are not increasing the offer of abortion, we are rather reducing the offer for ten years”, explains Sarah Durocher, Co-president of Family Planning.
In addition to the difficulty in finding an abortion center with availability, our journalist also had to endure inappropriate remarks from certain establishments. “In ten years, that hasn’t changed, that means a very guilt-inducing discourse on the part of certain professionals, whether it’s when we go for a blood test, for example in the laboratory. So it can be ‘oh well, you didn’t realize it’, or ‘all the same, at your age, you should know’. The result is that women actually don’t talk about it.”