The Veil law of January 17, 1975 decriminalizes abortion, which until then was punishable by imprisonment. From 1992, abortion became a right, reaffirmed by the laws of 2001, 2014 and 2022, providing in particular for the extension of the period for abortion until the fourteenth week of pregnancy.
In 2021, 223,300 abortions were performed in France, a stable number since the beginning of the 2000s. , shows a slight upward trend over thirty years.
Nearly two out of three abortions are carried out in hospitals, 30% in town offices (general practitioners, gynecologists, midwives), the rest in health or family planning centres.