Paris (AFP)

Two days before the Senate examines the bioethics bill, whose opening of medically assisted procreation (PMA) to lesbians and single women is the flagship measure, the opponents of the text beat the pavement again Sunday in Paris.

At the initiative of the rally, the collective "Marchons Enfants!", Which brings together 22 associations including the Manif pour tous, hopes to mobilize at least as much as during the previous mobilization on October 6. That day, 74,500 people had paraded in the streets of the capital, according to the count of the independent cabinet Occurrence for a media collective including AFP.

The procession must start at 1 p.m. from Place de la Résistance (7th), on the banks of the Seine, to reach Place de l'Opéra.

The president of the Manif pour tous Ludovine de la Rochère wants to be "optimistic" on the level of mobilization. "I think it will be a very important event with an audience very aware of the issues behind the bioethics law," she told AFP.

With "normal" or "almost normal" traffic on Sunday for the TGV and 7 out of 10 Intercités, the disturbances at the SNCF linked to the strike against the pension reform should not prevent the demonstrators from reaching Paris.

Nearly a hundred buses, as well as twenty trains have been chartered to reach the capital, according to the organizers. Some 1,000 volunteers are expected to be mobilized.

Opponents of the PMA for all women intend to demonstrate their strength before the Senate's Tuesday examination of the bioethics bill, already passed at first reading by the National Assembly.

The senators, meeting in a special committee, already adopted the text on January 8, including article 1 on PMA, despite the hostility of a part of the right, majority in the Luxembourg Palace.

- "Method always causes" -

Despite a well underway legislative process, the associations remain hopeful. "The day after the demonstration of February 2, 2014, had been withdrawn the family bill of Minister Dominique Bertinotti", which had given up on including PMA for all, recalled Ludovine de la Rochère.

"What happened in the Senate motivates us even more to mobilize against this bill which no longer deserves to be called bioethics," said Caroline Roux, deputy general delegate of Alliance Vita.

The anti-abortion association won its case at the beginning of January in court so that its controversial campaign, which the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, focused on respect, was re-displayed in the Île-de-France stations of "paternity" and "maternity" with reference - but without explicit mention - to PMA.

This week, the Archbishop of Paris, Mgr Michel Aupetit described as "monstrous" the fact of "inflicting voluntarily (the absence of a father).

The associations also point the finger at the government's "always cause method". They regret that what they proposed during the States General of Bioethics organized in 2018 was not taken into account in the bill. "And for the past few weeks, there has been silence," they say.

"Basically it is a question of courage in politics and personal convictions. No color or belonging to such a party", according to Bertrand Lionel-Marie, Catholic Family Associations (AFC), who asked parliamentarians to go against "the spirit of the times".

The collective does not exclude other demonstrations "in the coming weeks", in the event of the status quo of the text and "non-opening of a dialogue".

© 2020 AFP