EVERY 29 YEAR old in France is to receive a letter from the government reminding them to plan their family “before it’s too late”.
It’s part of a 16-point national plan aiming to increase birth rates that comes in response to concerns about funding an aging population.
The government says it’s trying to inform people in their 20s and 30s about their fertility options, including egg freezing.
In France, women between the ages of 29 and 37 can freeze their eggs for free. In Ireland, two rounds of egg freezing often costs more than €5,000.
The service is already in high demand in France, resulting in long wait times of sometimes more than a year.
The health ministry said the letter due to be sent to young people aims to give “scientifically-based information on sexual and reproductive health” in order to “avoid the ‘if only I had known’ mentality”.
The Independent reports that the letter will say “biological clocks are not the same but men have one too”.
A government report commissioned in 2022 found that infertility affects 3.3 million French people, or around one in eight couples. Most data suggests that over 85% of people won’t experience any difficulty.
Health minister Stephanie Rist said that the role of politicians is “not to dictate whether or not to have children”, but to educate women on fertility and remind them of their options.
French psychologist Marie-Estelle Dupont told Le Figaro newspaper that women now have career and economic concerns, and that the government should focus on making motherhood financially-viable for more people.
In her view, extending maternity leave from 16 weeks to 26 weeks would have a greater impact on birth rates.
