France to give free contraception to women up to 25

Changes are coming.

France is set to make big changes in its healthcare system, giving women access to free birth control. The French government is making birth control free of charge for all women aged up to 25 from January of next year. The French Health Minister Olivier Veran revealed on Thursday that the new move is set to be brought in from January 1st and will cost the country €21 million per year. This new change is being implemented as part of President Emmanuel Macron's bid for the 2022 election campaign. "There is a decline in contraception use among some young women and it is mainly for financial reasons," Mr Veran told France 2 television. "It is unbearable that women cannot protect themselves, cannot have access to contraception if they want to make that choice because it is too expensive." The new scheme is set to cover the oral pill, IUDs, contraceptive patches and other methods composed of steroid hormones. Up until now, young people could still get free access to contraception in France but the age limit to access it was 18 years. France previously only allowed this for 15 to 18-year-olds but recently changed to so under 15s could also avail of the scheme. France is not the only European country that provides free birth control to teenagers, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Norway also work with this healthcare system. This also happened in the US under Obama's presidency, once a woman had health insurance she was entitled to free birth control. This however was overturned under Trump's time in office as he allowed employers to opt out of providing birth control under religious grounds.