Elective abortions for minors: impact of the new law in France

Abstract

Objective: This study in a French family planning centre assessed the impact of the new law (July 2001) concerning minors seeking elective abortions.

Study design: We compared two historical cohorts of adolescents (<18 years). The "before" (n=61) and "after" (n=81) cohorts comprise the patients seen for the year before and the year after the effective date of the new statute. The data came from medical records. We compared the girls' obstetrical history and their social, demographic and medical characteristics.

Results: Obstetrical history did not differ significantly between the two cohorts (p>0.05), nor did most of the social and demographic characteristics. Fewer adolescents in the "before" (29.5%) than in the "after" (51.2%) (p<0.05) cohort did not use contraceptives. There were no significant differences between the two study periods for the adult selected to accompany the minor or for the reasons given for refusing to inform a parent. In the "before" cohort, the girl's legal representative always provided consent, while only 63% did so in the "after" cohort.

Conclusion: The scope of application of the new law substantially exceeded the legislative intent, since recourse to non-parental adults was not rare, even though the reasons for not informing parents did not differ during the two study periods.