Caractéristiques sociodémographiques des femmes recourant à l'interruption volontaire de grossesse, et de sa prise en charge dans le Maine-et-Loire en 2007

The number of voluntary termination of pregnancies (VTOP) in the district of Maine-et-Loire (France) has been slightly increasing in the last ten years but the rate of childbearing age seems to be stable as it is on a national or regional data. The aborting women in this district seem to be representative of French women terminating pregnancy regarding sociodemographical, gynaecological and contraception criteria. When they come to abort, the terms of the pregnant women are also representative. But if we compare the three family planning clinics of this department, we realise that the psycho-social interview is not equally carried out. In these three centres, there is the same proportion of medication abortion (as on a national and regional scale) but much less surgical abortion under general anaesthetic in Cholet (3.9%) than in Angers (27.7%) or Saumur (64.2%). The regional rate was of 30% and the national one of 65%. The explanation is the lack of time slot for general anaesthetics in Cholet and Angers. The majority of these women used a contraception method to avoid unwanted pregnancies but we observe a lot of failures due to natural methods and condoms (especially with young people). School prevention as well as prevention on a larger population of women and couples must be comprehensive and carried out seriously. It is essential to train doctors sufficiently and regularly on the questions of contraception in general (methods, instructions…).