Health, Government - Protests Against IVF Liberalization
Thousands of French conservative and far-right-wingers marched against proposed against a new law that expands Women's Reproductive Rights to include lesbian couples and single women who wish to conceive children with medical help.
The legislation to end discrimination against lesbian couples and single women access to medically-assisted procreation, such as IVF and sperm donation, would be President Emmanuel Macron's first major social reform. It was passed by the lower house last month and now needs to be approved by the Senate.
"This protest is a warning to the government," said Ludovine de la Rochere, the leader of one of the groups opposing the changes as they marched through Paris among Roman Catholic religious activists and alt-right nationalists. The mainstream conservative Republican Party is divided on the issue.
The right-wingers are swimming against the current, however. The number of protesters was better than organizers expected, but way below 2013's protests against marriage equality. That went through anyway, and the public overwhelmingly approved. Likewise, a recent poll found more than 65 percent of French people support extending the right to IVF and assisted procreation to single women and lesbians.