A bonus to attract mothers: the town of Saint-Amand-Montrond, in the Cher, adopted on Thursday evening the mayor's proposal to offer 1,000 euros to women coming to give birth in 2026 in the town's maternity ward, which is threatened by an insufficient number of births.
This measure aims in particular to save the maternity ward in the town, located 50 km south of Bourges, which is at risk of closure because it has fallen below the regulatory threshold of 300 births per year. The forecast for 2025 is 226 births.
A bonus of €1,000 in gift vouchers, redeemable at 150 participating businesses according to the municipality, will be paid from January 1, 2026, to mothers giving birth locally. Five hundred euros will be covered by the municipality and 500 by the inter-municipal council.
The LR mayor of the town, Emmanuel Riotte, had already seen his proposal adopted by the community of municipalities on Wednesday.
The mayor hopes in particular to bring back to the maternity ward patients from the department and surrounding areas who currently go to larger maternity hospitals in Bourges, Montluçon or Nevers.
"We don't give money to a mother to have babies, we give money to a pregnant mother who decides to come and give birth in Saint-Amand," Mr. Riotte told AFP.
The mayor wants this financial incentive to be accompanied by "mandatory prenatal visits". "It would be completely idiotic for a mother to leave Brittany at 5:00 am to come and give birth at 1:00 pm in Saint-Amand", he insists.
19,000 inhabitants live in the community of municipalities around Saint-Amand-Montrond, whose maternity hospital is among the twenty or so in France that deviate from the minimum threshold of 300 births per year set by the regulations.
The initiative by the town hall has provoked outrage from four doctors' unions (Snphare, Syngof, Snpeh and Samu Urgences de France) for whom "the choice of a maternity hospital should not be influenced by the prospect of a purely financial reward" and who warn against health risks in case of complications.
"It is obvious that complicated births will have to be referred to a specialized facility, as has been the case for decades," replies Emmanuel Riotte.
The birth rate has been steadily declining in France since 2010. It fell from 832,799 to 663,000 in 2024, a decrease of 201,300, according to figures from INSEE.
In the Cher department, this decline reaches 30%, with 2,374 births in 2024.
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