“That’s not enough, we need to better distribute the centers that receive these women,” says a gynecologist-obstetrician

The extension of the abortion “is not enough, we must better distribute the centers that welcome these women”, explained Wednesday, February 23 on franceinfo Ghada Hatem, gynecologist-obstetrician and founder of the Maison des femmes de Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis). The National Assembly must definitively adopt today the bill on the extension of the period of abortion from 12 to 14 weeks.

franceinfo: Will this make it possible to respond to the lack of practitioners?

Ghada Hatem: This is not enough, it is necessary to better distribute the centers which receive these women and which carry out the abortions. People who are in the field know it very well, many women realize that they are pregnant at the limit of the deadline, even the deadline barely exceeded. The time to find someone, the deadline has passed. This law will allow them to be welcomed immediately and to benefit immediately from abortion.

Do you often meet women in this situation?

Yes. Weekly, they are young or less young. It can happen to anyone to pop a pill regularly, bleed regularly, have no symptoms and get tested because you feel woozy, an ultrasound and you’re already past the deadline. It is a child who is not expected, desired and who comes to upset the course of a life. Do we have the right to say to this woman, too bad for you?

What do you say to those who say that this intervention can be unsustainable for some professionals?

It may be untenable in the minds of senators, but it is not in the minds of doctors who already perform abortions at 12 weeks of pregnancy. There, we increase a little bit and it will not be unsustainable at all. It is an argument which one agitates to make fear. There are already many doctors who refuse to perform abortions. There are anesthesiologists who refuse to put abortions to sleep. It is a very sensitive subject. I think doctors who want to accompany women and make this gesture need to come forward. This will prevent women from wandering from doctor to doctor and being told ‘come back next week’. They will go straight to the point and it will be easier for everyone.