Infant mortality: National Assembly votes for moratorium on maternity closures

The National Assembly approved by a large majority on Thursday evening, May 15, at first reading, a bill aimed at combating infant mortality. The text provides, in particular, for a three-year moratorium on maternity ward closures, "except in cases of danger to patient safety."

The bill, put forward by the centrist LIOT group as part of its parliamentary "niche", the day dedicated to its texts, was approved by 97 votes for against 4 (from the Ensemble pour la République group).

The text aims to address the rise in infant mortality, the rate of which has risen from 3.5 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2011 to 4.1 in 2024, according to INSEE. This trend is considered "alarming" by Paul-André Colombani, MP for the LIOT group and rapporteur of the bill, and which "goes against the trend observed in the majority of European countries."

In 2022, France ranked 23rd out of the 27 European Union states in terms of infant mortality, a rate that has been declining for around thirty years.

Supporters of the moratorium link this figure to the closure of maternity wards, leading to longer travel times for mothers. Their number has reportedly fallen from 1,369 in 1975 to 464 today, according to Sophie Ricourt Vaginay, a member of parliament for the Union of the Right for the Republic group.

In the Lot, it is sometimes necessary to travel "an hour, an hour and a half by car to get to the maternity ward" , testified the Socialist Party MP Christophe Proença, stating that his grandson was born "in his house a few months ago" , his mother having "not had time to travel" . "The risk of neonatal death is multiplied by two when the journey to the maternity ward exceeds 45 minutes" , stated the MP Josiane Corneloup, citing a work by the journalists Anthony Cortes and Sébastien Leurquin.

But "a maternity ward that performs few deliveries may offer less safety, due to a lack of regular obstetric procedures," according to Jean-François Rousset, a member of parliament for the Renaissance group. According to Health Minister Yannick Neuder, the rise in infant mortality is a complex and multifactorial phenomenon. He points to "demographic factors such as the later age of the first child and the increase in multiple pregnancies, as well as the extreme age of mothers."

The adoption of this moratorium was not a given: in the Social Affairs Committee, the measure had been removed, replaced by the obligation of "a prior assessment of possible alternatives" before the closure of a maternity unit.

But on Thursday, MPs finally approved a series of identical amendments to reinstate the key article of the bill, with the government expressing a prudent opinion. During this moratorium, an "assessment" will be conducted on maternity units performing fewer than 1,000 deliveries per year.