Fertility treatment for all women

On 15 October 2019, many women in France came a step closer to their wish for a child. By 359 votes to 114, the National Assembly approved at first reading a bill that would give lesbian couples and single women access to medically assisted reproduction. The reform became known as "PMA pour toutes" – assisted reproduction for all women. The government ministers responsible welcomed the vote as recognition of different kinds of families.

Until then, artificial insemination and in vitro fertilisation had only been available to infertile heterosexual couples. Lesbian couples and single women had to go abroad for treatment, for example to Spain, Belgium or Denmark. Costs of several thousand euros quickly added up. For many, this route was barely affordable.

Emmanuel Macron had promised the change during his presidential campaign. It became the first major social reform of his term. The bill provided for the state health insurance to cover the cost of treatment. In addition, children conceived through sperm donation would be able to find out who their donor was from their eighteenth birthday. This was intended to loosen the previously strictly protected anonymity of sperm donors.

The reform met fierce opposition. Nine days before the vote, tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Paris against it. The protest was driven by the same circles that had mobilised against marriage equality in 2013. Their central objection was that the reform would allow children to grow up without a father.

The National Assembly's vote did not yet mean the change was final, however. The conservative-leaning Senate delayed the process; for almost two years the bill went back and forth between the two chambers. Only in the summer of 2021 was the change enshrined in law. Even so, the vote of 15 October 2019 marked a decisive step towards a family policy that reflects the diversity of the ways people live.