Unanimously, the Senate voted Thursday, May 4 at first reading, after the National Assembly, a bill to better support women after a miscarriage, with psychological support and sick leave without a waiting day. .
Some modifications having been made, deputies and senators must now agree in a joint committee on a common version of this text, which is "
a ray of hope
" for the Minister responsible for Equality between women and men Isabelle Rome.
The bill initiated by MoDem deputy Sandrine Josso, a member of the presidential majority, was examined in the context of a space reserved for the Renaissance majority RDPI group.
"Miscarriage Journey"
The text sets up from September 2024, under the aegis of each Regional Health Agency (ARS), a "
miscarriage course which associates medical professionals and hospital and liberal psychologists
", so that women and their partners are systematically informed and guided.
The bill also allows midwives, and not only doctors, to directly refer their patients who have suffered a miscarriage and their partners to a psychologist approved by health insurance.
On the initiative of the RDPI rapporteur Martin Lévrier and the minister, paid sick leave without a waiting day after a miscarriage, introduced in the Assembly, has been extended to self-employed workers and non-salaried agricultural workers.
With the Minister's agreement, an amendment by the rapporteur was also adopted aimed at protecting against dismissal employees faced with a "late
miscarriage
", that is to say between the 14th and 21st week of amenorrhea. included (less than 1% of pregnancies).
“Spontaneous termination of pregnancy”
The senators finally introduced a change in semantics, replacing the expression "
miscarriage course
", considered "
stigmatising and negative
" by the associations, that of "
spontaneous termination of pregnancy
", presented by the rapporteur as "
more neutral and more just medically
”.
As in the Assembly, the left defended without success the establishment of the possibility of a "
special leave
" of three days of rest in the event of miscarriage, leaving women the choice between this leave and sick leave.
Some 200,000 French women face a miscarriage every year.
“
Each woman experiences this event differently.
It should not be trivialized or dramatized, but simply be the subject of specific adapted support
, ”said Colette Mélot (Independents).
"
If there is one point in common with all the experiences, it is the taboo of which they are the object
", she underlined.