Tens of thousands of people have marched in Paris to protest against a new law allowing lesbian couples and single women the right to conceive children with medical help, reports The Guardian.
The bill is Emmanuel Macron’s first major social reform: a law to end discrimination over women’s reproductive rights by allowing lesbian couples and single women access to medically-assisted procreation, such as IVF and sperm donation.
“Where is my dad?” read some signs as traditional Catholic groups, far-right activists and others passed the French senate and marched in southern Paris on Sunday. Many chanted: “Liberty, Equality, Paternity”, a play on the national French motto. Some shouted: “Everyone needs a father.”
One demonstrator in his 40s said: “We’ll fight to stop children being conceived without a father, you don’t make children in laboratories.”
Many of the protesters had also been active in the large protest movement against same-sex marriage seven years ago. In 2013, the legalisation of same-sex marriage in France was unique among its European neighbours in sparking months of large street demonstrations, which saw violent clashes between far-right groups and riot police and led to a rise in homophobic attacks.