According to President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement on Friday, pharmacists in France will offer free condoms to anybody under the age of 25 starting in 2019. The government has reported a spike in sexually transmitted illnesses among young people, and the unusual inflation this year is particularly hurting the budgets of France’s poorest citizens. These factors led to the government’s announcement of the action.
In France, young people of all socioeconomic backgrounds may already receive free birth control as part of the government’s attempts to guarantee that they can avoid unintended pregnancy. This applies to both girls and women who are under 25. But men are not covered by the current laws, and they don’t deal with transgender or nonbinary people’s access in particular.
As on January 1, anybody between the ages of 18 and 25 will receive free condoms from pharmacies, according to remarks made by Macron on Thursday. However, the president decided to broaden the initiative after being questioned on social media on Friday by a French TV host and others about why the contraceptive policy did not cover children. ‘Let’s do it’, Macron said in a selfie video he took while attending a meeting in Spain. Later, he tweeted: ‘ Many young people engage in sexual activity. They must also defend themselves’.
Macron, France’s youngest-ever president when he took office in 2017 at the age of 39, has vowed increased measures to prevent and test for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. The state-run healthcare system in France covers part but not all of the cost of contraception, and low-income individuals sometimes have to wait a long time for visits. Everyone may get an abortion in France for no cost. Other European nations provide free or discounted contraception.
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