Ahen the government pledged to open twelve new birth centers by the end of 2022, none have seen the light of day. In the midst of a crisis in the health system, France is thus depriving itself of a healthcare offer which, by providing an alternative in complete safety to many low-risk patients, also makes it possible, thanks to less medicalized monitoring of pregnancy, to optimize medical time by making patients more available.
These establishments offer comprehensive support for pregnancy and birth that is safe, beneficial to the health of women and children, and even less expensive for public finances. Public authorities must facilitate the development of this model.
The birth centers constitute an innovative perinatal and maternal health offer, tested since 2016 and made permanent in 2021. Each woman benefits from complete perinatal follow-up and favorable to physiological childbirth (continuous support, non-drug management of pain , in compliance with the recommendations defined by the High Authority for Health).
Throughout her pregnancy, she can involve her partner and her family, prepare with the midwife who will be present on the day of her delivery and who will visit her at home afterwards.
France very late
Birth centers guarantee the safety and well-being of women and children, through strict selection of low-risk patients, close links with a maternity partner and the presence of two midwives for each delivery. In Europe, France is very late in offering this type of follow-up, while the demand for less medicalized management of childbirth is increasing sharply.
In 2020, in an Ipsos poll, one in five women said they wanted to give birth in a birth centre, which represents 130,000 births per year. Today, only eight of these centers exist, carrying out less than 800 deliveries per year and thus having to refuse many requests.
After the success of the experiment, the government had set a target of creating twelve new birth centers in 2022. In fact, no new center has opened. Among the actors of this care offer, the demotivation is strong in front of the difficulties to create new structures, even though there are currently more than thirty projects in France.
A strong political will
For example, the financing of these structures has not been made permanent, still relying on an annual fixed grant from the regional health agencies (ARS), designed for experimentation, but which is not adapted to the needs of birth centers. , and on coverage by Social Security which does not cover all the attendance obligations of midwives. Other unjustified blockages remain, on the conditions of recruitment of midwives, for example.
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