France to legalise fertility treatment for lesbians

PARIS: Lesbian couples and single women in France are set to mark a watershed moment after parliament passes a bill granting them access to fertility therapy for the first time.

Lesbian couples and single women who want to start a family must travel abroad for donor sperm IVF.

That will change under President Emmanuel Macron's government's new law, which the National Assembly will vote on after two years of often heated discussion.

The reform will align France with a number of European countries, including Belgium and Spain, which are now two of the most popular locations for French lesbian couples and single women seeking fertility assistance.

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After years of dithering by Macron and his Socialist predecessor Francois Hollande, the Inter-LGBT association said it would welcome the reform, which it described as a "forceps birth."

Minister of Health Olivier Veran has promised to make up for lost time, stating that women will be allowed to start treatment in the autumn with the goal of becoming pregnant by the end of 2021.

Only heterosexual couples have access to medically assisted reproductive technologies such as in vitro fertilisation under current French law (IVF).

Moreover, France's healthcare system would cover the cost of fertility procedures for all women under the age of 43 under the proposed bill, which was first adopted by the National Assembly in October 2019 but was then held up in the Senate.

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