The decline in recourse to abortion continues among the youngest. The number of voluntary terminations of pregnancy (abortion) in France remained practically stable in 2021 compared to 2020, but the figures are decreasing for women under 25 and in particular for minors, according to a study by the Directorate of Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics (Drees), published Tuesday, September 27.
A total of 223,300 abortions were recorded in 2021, compared to 222,000 in 2020 (a year marked by a drop in conceptions during the first confinement linked to Covid-19) and 233,000 in 2019, specifies the study. In relation to the number of women of childbearing age, between 15 and 49 years old, the rate of recourse to abortion reached 15.5 per 1,000 last year, practically stable compared to 2020 (15.4 per 1,000 ).
Abortion “continues to decrease among younger women”, below 30 years, notes the Drees. The decline is particularly notable for women aged 18 and 19, among whom the rate of recourse fell from 21.5 per 1,000 in 2014 to 17.2 in 2019 then to 14.3 in 2021. For minors, elderly from 15 to 17 years old, the rate fell over the same period from 8.7, to 6.0 then 4.9 per 1,000.
But the number of births has also fallen among young women, so that among those under 30, “abortion ratios”i.e. the ratio between the number of abortions and the number of births, remained stable between 2018 and 2020.
Regional disparities in this area are very marked, note the authors of the study: the rate of recourse to abortion reaches 11.5 per 1,000 in the Pays-de-la-Loire, but 22.1 in Provence- Alps-Cote d’Azur. In the overseas departments, abortion is twice as common as in mainland France, with an average rate of 29.6 per 1,000, compared to 14.9. It was in Guadeloupe that the highest rate was recorded last year, with 47.2 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15 to 49.