An amendment to a Senate bill that would allow supermarkets and other retailers to sell pregnancy tests in France received the support of two government ministers this week, almost ensuring that the measure will be passed, reports FRANCE 24.
Pharmacists, who currently hold a monopoly on distribution of such tests, are up in arms.
For Patricia Schillinger, the Socialist senator who introduced the amendment, the reform is a matter of convenience and freedom for women.
“Buying a pregnancy test is often embarrassing for young women,” Schillinger told the French press this week. “As a woman, I want to have the liberty to buy a test wherever I want, just as men can buy condoms wherever they want.”
But most supporters of the amendment say it is a simple question of economics. Opening the sale of pregnancy tests to supermarkets guarantees their price will decrease, thus making them more accessible to consumers.
Read more of this report from FRANCE 24.