Maternity wards: Doctors refute the link between rising infant mortality in France and closures of small facilities

A "shortcut" , an "absolute nonsense" , a "lie" ... Adopted on first reading in the National Assembly on May 15, the bill defending a moratorium The three-year ban on maternity unit closures – closures accused of contributing to the rise in infant mortality – continues to provoke reactions in the medical world. The text, sponsored by Paul-André Colombani, MP (Partitu di a Nazione Corsa, pro-autonomist) from South Corsica, has reopened the debate on the existence of small maternity units, at a time when France is distinguished by poor results in the field of perinatal health – the infant mortality rate (between 0 and 1 year) reached 4.1‰ in 2024 , according to INSEE, relegating France to ^23rd place out of the 27 states of the European Union.

But, among doctors, the link thus established between infant mortality and the closure of small maternity units is unfounded, argues the French Society of Perinatal Medicine, as well as those of neonatology and pediatrics. The same warning comes from the union of obstetricians and gynecologists.

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