Unanimously, the National Assembly voted on the night of Wednesday to Thursday, March 9, a bill to better care for women after a miscarriage, with psychological support and sick leave without a waiting day. Adopted at first reading, this text by MoDem MP Sandrine Josso, member of the presidential majority, must now be examined in the Senate.

By way of amendment, the government has added a measure, already unveiled by Elisabeth Borne, establishing paid sick leave without a waiting day for a woman who has suffered a miscarriage, unlike a classic sick leave. This “lifting of the deficiency will take place as soon as possible and at the latest” on January 1, 2024, underlined the Minister of Health, François Braun.

An “unfairly trivialized” experience

The ecologist Marie-Charlotte Garin and several left-wing elected officials have asked in vain for an “additional tool”: a specific leave of three days off in the event of a miscarriage, leaving women the choice between this leave and sick leave. Some voices of the majority went in their direction. François Braun, for his part, considered that sick leave “enables confidentiality to be guaranteed”, particularly vis-à-vis the employer.

At the opening of the debates, MP Sandrine Josso returned to the traumatic and “unfairly trivialized” experience of miscarriage. One “in four pregnancies” ends in miscarriage and “one in ten women” faces this ordeal in her lifetime, she recalled.

In this text, it is specified that the regional health agencies (ARS) will have to set up, from September 2024, a “”miscarriage course” which associates medical professionals and hospital and liberal psychologists”, so that women and their partners are systematically informed and guided.

Registered Psychologist

The bill also allows midwives, and not only doctors, to refer their patients who have suffered a miscarriage and their partners directly to a psychologist approved by Medicare. This orientation would take place within the framework of an already existing system, “My psy course”, which allows you to benefit from sessions with a psychologist, with coverage by Medicare and complementary health insurance.

The Minister of Health felt that “our health system does not leave enough room for women’s health, this must change. (…) A spontaneous termination of pregnancy is an intimate drama”.