All women aged 25 and younger in France will be able to access free birth control as of January 1 2022.

       The measure, announced on Thursday by France’s health minister Olivier Veran, will also include free medical visits about contraception.

       It will cover the pill, IUD devices and contraceptive implants and is expected to cost France’s health system, the Assurance Maladie, about €21m a year.

       France’s healthcare system only covers some birth control costs. Currently, France’s healthcare system only offers free birth control to women aged 18 and under.

       The number of abortions among 15-18 year-olds in the country fell from 9.5 per 1,000 girls between 2012 and 2018 to 6 per 1,000.

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       People aged 25 in France are no longer covered by their parents’ complementary health insurance, explaining the cut-off age.

       Mr Veran said: “There is a decline in the use of contraception among a certain number of young women and the main reason for this is financial. It costs too much. It is unacceptable that women cannot protect themselves, cannot have contraception if that’s their choice obviously, because they cannot afford it.”

       He didn’t address contraception methods for men.

       This year it was announced that, in the UK, the contraceptive pill would be made available over the counter to buy without a subscription.

       Two brands of ‘progesterone only’ pills — Hana and Lovima — are now accessible without the need to visit a GP for most people.

       Pills with oestrogen still require a consultation.

       Sexual health campaigners and doctors have welcomed the move with GP services overburdened during Covid-19 and public health budgets slashed.

       At the time, Dr June Raine, head of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, said: “This is good news for women and families.

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       “We have consulted a wide range of people to enable us to reach the decision to make this contraceptive available for the first time in the UK without prescription. We received many responses to our consultation, the majority of which supported this approach.”

       Additional reporting by AP