Les Lilas Maternity to Close Friday After Certification Loss

Overview

• The regional health authority confirmed the shutdown for Friday night after the clinic lost Haute Autorité de Santé certification and its manager could no longer ensure financial viability.
• Hundreds gathered Thursday in Les Lilas to protest, with staff in purple gowns leading songs and Femen activists staging a topless action.
• Health Minister Stéphanie Rist said a women’s health center will replace the facility to provide care before and after childbirth, but it will not handle deliveries.
• Founded in 1964, the clinic became a symbol of less‑medicalized childbirth, promoted ‘accouchement sans douleur,’ and supported contraception and abortion rights before the 1975 Veil law.
• Local leaders and supporters fault the state for abandoned reconstruction plans, and about 75 permanent staff now face the consequences of the closure.