VOLUNTARY FEMALE STERILIZATION - LEGISLAT ION AND JURISPRUDENCE IN FRANCE

Female sterilisation, widely used as a contraceptive technique in Fran ce for many decades, is now a cause for concern among clinicians in re lation to the personal legal risks involved in such procedures. Questi ons concerning the position of insurers in relation to application of civil hability insurance in the context of these procedures and their possible complications reinforce this uncertainty Sterilisation, in th e absence of any therapeutic objective, which is at the centre of the current debate, can be considered to be a deliberate mutilation, perfo rmed as an illegal procedure and the insurer, on principle, cannot ins ure the consequences of such an intentionally concomitted act. As desc ribed in this paper, the absence of legislation concerning this proced ure and the limited legal debate on this subject fend to perpetuate th e ambiguity between what is prohibited by law, but largely tolerated i n reality