Several thousand conservative activists of all ages marched through Paris on Sunday to protest a French bill that would give lesbian couples and single women access to in vitro fertilization and related procedures.
“Where is my dad?” read some signs as traditional Catholic groups, far-right activists and other marchers weaved from the Luxembourg Garden to the Montparnasse neighborhood, passing by the French Senate.
Police guarded several Paris streets as the protest unfolded, notably to prevent tensions with LGBT activists holding a small counter-demonstration in support of the bill. Both were peaceful.
The conservatives’ march was organized by the same groups that held mass demonstrations against France’s legalization of gay marriage in 2013, who are hoping their opposition to the IVF bill provides new fuel for their movement.
Some shouting “Liberty, Equality, Paternity” — a play on the national French motto — marchers argued that the bill deprives children of the right to a father. The crowd included parents with children and older people.
“I believe we are going too fast and we’re not thinking about the consequences of this law,” said demonstrator Monique Brassier of the eastern city of Nancy. “We are heading toward a commercialization of the human being, a commercialization of procreation, and that scares me.”
Proponents say women should have the right to bear children regardless of their marital status or sexual orientation, and say the bill’s opponents are trying to preserve an outdated patriarchal system. Read more via Washington Post
Thousands peacefully protest French IVF law, avoiding repeat of 2013 violence
PARIS (Reuters) - An estimated 42,000 protesters took to the streets of Paris on Sunday, peacefully demonstrating against a draft law allowing lesbians and single women to conceive children with medical assistance, police said.
The bioethics law, which has cleared its first reading in parliament, would lift the current restriction limiting in vitro fertilization (IVF) to heterosexual couples. For some in President Emmanuel Macron’s governing party, the bill has revived memories of the disruptive and sometimes violent protests against his predecessor Francois Hollande’s “Marriage For All” law which legalized gay unions.
Those protests peaked in January 2013 with a demonstration attended by some 340,000 people, according to police estimates at the time, with organizers claiming 1 million. Remnants of the same “Demonstrations for All” movement, founded in opposition to Hollande’s law, took part in Sunday’s march, joined by a handful of conservative lawmakers. Some opponents of the bioethics bill fear it would ultimately pave the way for the legalization of surrogacy. This time, however, the measures have clear public backing, with polls reporting 65-68% support among voters. The Catholic church, while critical of the bill, has also refrained from directly encouraging protests. Read more via Reuters