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French conservative groups protest bill on widening access to IVF

Conservative activists are gathering in Paris to protest a French bill that would give lesbian couples and single women access to in vitro fertilization and related procedures.

Conservative activists are gathering in Paris to protest a French bill that would give lesbian couples and single women access to in vitro fertilization and related procedures.

Traditional Catholic groups and far-right activists who held mass demonstrations against France’s legalization of gay marriage in 2013 organized Sunday’s protest, arguing that it deprives children of the right to a father.

LGBTQ2 activists and left-wing groups plan a counter-demonstration, and police have blocked off several streets in Paris to prevent violence.

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Several other countries already offer assisted reproduction to lesbians and single women but French law currently allows it only for infertile heterosexual couples.

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The bill is part of a broader bioethics draft law under debate at the National Assembly. France’s health care system would cover the cost of the procedures for all women under 43.

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