French anti-IVF group to hold protest as debates on assisted procreation bill continue

Record ID: 1435009

  • Title: French anti-IVF group to hold protest as debates on assisted procreation bill continue
  • Date: 4th October 2019
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (OCTOBER 4, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PRESIDENT OF FRENCH ANTI-ASSISTED PROCREATION GROUP MANIF POUR TOUS, LUDOVINE DE LA ROCHERE, WALKING UP STAIRS DE LA ROCHERE SPEAKING WITH JOURNALIST (SOUNDBITE) (French) PRESIDENT OF FRENCH ANTI-ASSISTED PROCREATION GROUP MANIF POUR TOUS, LUDOVINE DE LA ROCHERE, SAYING: "The French republic could legalise a practice that would voluntarily deprive children of a father for all their lives. It's shocking in terms of injustice. And us adults, we have to, above all, respect the needs, the rights of children. We can't put our desires before the foremost interest of a child." DE LA ROCHERE'S HANDS (SOUNDBITE) (French) PRESIDENT OF FRENCH ANTI-ASSISTED PROCREATION GROUP MANIF POUR TOUS, LUDOVINE DE LA ROCHERE, SAYING: "If we say that a woman who has not given birth is the mother of a child, then tomorrow, we'll also say that a woman who has given birth as a surrogate is not the mother of a child. If we let pass assisted procreation without a father, we'll let pass surrogacy, and women would fall victim to that. It's really about women's subservience. And even when we say we can regulate it and it can be altruistic, that's not true." PARIS, FRANCE (RECENT - SEPTEMBER 20, 2019) (REUTERS) CALIXTE ON HIGH CHAIR CHESNEL FEEDING HER DAUGHTER (SOUNDBITE) (French) LESBIAN DELEGATE OF RIGHTS GROUP INTER-LGBT AND MOTHER WHO SOUGHT ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION TREATMENT IN BELGIUM, LAURENE CHESNEL, SAYING: "If they (movement against same-sex marriage and LGBT families) can find a moment to mind their own business and not put their nose in ours, it would be a breather for us, because it's always a difficult time to experience. Although it's mostly verbal attacks, it's still violent, and it's psychologically difficult for our families, for our children who are able to understand what's happening. There are slogans on the street, posters. For us, it's something quite violent." PARIS, FRANCE (RECENT - SEPTEMBER 9, 2019) (REUTERS) PRESIDENT OF RIGHTS GROUP GAYLIB, CATHERINE MICHAUD, AT THEIR HEADQUARTERS RELIEF SCULPTURE ON WALL SHOWING JUSTICE SCALES (SOUNDBITE) (French) PRESIDENT OF RIGHTS GROUP GAYLIB AND MEMBER OF PARIS MUNICIPAL COUNCIL, CATHERINE MICHAUD, SAYING: "With this, we are offering a new right - a freedom extended to all women - the freedom to use her body to create a child, the freedom to create a family. I view this extension of the right to medically assisted procreation to all women as a great law in the history of women, in the same vein as the right to vote and the right to abortion."
  • Embargoed: 18th October 2019 15:46
  • Keywords: IVF reforms Emmanuel Macron LGBT women's rights parliament lesbian couples Manif pour tous bioethics bill assisted procreation
  • Location: PARIS, FRANCE
  • City: PARIS, FRANCE
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Lawmaking,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA005AZONHHJ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: As rights activists highly anticipate a law that will extend assisted procreation to all women, a conservative group advocating a father figure in families are planning a big protest on Sunday (October 6).
    The Paris protest led by French anti-assisted procreation group Manif pour tous (Protests for everyone) comes as a bioethics bill that will extend the right to medically assisted procreation, known in France as PMA, to lesbian couples and single women continue to be debated in the French parliament.
    Until now, lesbian couples and single women wishing to bear children have to seek procedures abroad, most commonly in Belgium and Spain, forcing them to spend thousands of euros, to take a leave of absence and to see a new set of doctors.
    Laurene Chesnel, 39, is a mother of two children born with the help of artificial insemination in a Brussels clinic and raised with her female partner.
    As a lesbian woman and an advocate of LGBT rights, Chesnel is looking forward to the passage of the bill, which is being discussed in the parliament for debates that could take up to several months.
    "People have indeed realised that we are families just like others. So, there's no reason to push us aside," Chesnel said.
    Nearly two-thirds of French people are in favour of extending the PMA. A BVA poll in late April found that 65 percent agreed to it, 10 points higher than in 2014, a year after the same-sex marriage law was passed.
    "I view this as a great law in the history of women, in the same vein as the right to vote and the right to abortion," president of advocacy group Gaylib Catherine Michaud said.
    But a conservative movement remains opposed to the idea of families raising children with no father figure.
    Twenty associations, including the group that mobilised against same-sex marriage, Manif pour tous, announced a day of action on Sunday. They claim that the extension of the PMA to all women was a step towards surrogacy, which the bill does not seek to legalise.
    "It's really about women's subservience. And even when we say we can regulate it and it can be altruistic, that's not true," Manif pour tous President Ludovine de la Rochere said.
    But Chesnel said groups like Manif pour tous should mind their own business and give same-sex families like hers a break from "violent" moments that could be traumatic for their children.
    The extension of the PMA was a campaign promise of French President Emmanuel Macron. Responding to demands of LGBT groups, the measure will remove the medical criterion of infertility for women to qualify for access to assisted procreation procedures, such as intrauterine insemination (IUI) or in-vitro fertilisation (IVF).
    The health ministry estimates a doubling of the demand for PMA, now at 4,000 per year.
    The PMA is only one aspect of the wide-ranging bioethics bill, which will also touch on establishing marital filiation, lifting sperm donor anonymity, egg freezing, genetic testing and research on embryonic stem cells.
    A counter-protest against Manif pour tous' action is also slated to take place on Sunday.
    (Production: Michaela Cabrera, Ardee Napolitano, Thierry Chiarello, Clotaire Achi)
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