Switzerland should pave the way to allow same-sex couples to get married and adopt children, a parliamentary committee has said. But it wanted more discussion over allowing sperm donation for lesbian couples.

The House of Representatives Legal Affairs Committee on Thursday voted in favour of a draft law setting out the measures. This has been sent out for consultation, a parliamentary statement said. It has also sent out for discussion a version - narrowly voted down in the committee - that would allow access to sperm donation.

At present, sperm donation is only permitted for heterosexual married couples. The committee put forward for discussion whether the Swiss civil code should be changed to allow sperm donation for married lesbian couples.

Opponents argue that this would be unfair to all-male couples, who are currently banned from using a surrogate and donated eggs. They also fear that the issue of sperm donation would potentially overshadow that of allowing gay marriage, putting the change at risk. Read more via Swiss info