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In 2013, the Manif for All had succeeded in bringing together hundreds of thousands of people to oppose the legalization of same-sex marriage. Today, it is the bioethics bill that mobilizes the association, which parades in the streets of Paris this Sunday, October 6, 2019.
It is the bioethical bill and its flagship measure on the opening of procreation medically assisted to couples of women and single women that mobilizes the Manif for all . This Sunday afternoon, its members and supporters parade through the streets of Paris with a slogan: " No to the PMA without a father . "
About twenty associations on the streets
More than a thousand people found themselves near the Luxembourg Gardens, with a crowd that continues to grow. A parade that was organized by some 20 associations close to conservative Catholic circles. In the streets of Paris, it is a colorful procession of old people and families, mainly from all over France.
On their banners slogans like " Liberty, equality, paternity ", " darons, not samples " or " Let nature go ". It is not the whole of the bioethical project which is contested, it is especially the enlargement of the PMA, medically assisted procreation, to single women and to lesbian couples.
The protesters present generally hold the same speech: " A child needs a mother and a dad. The father is not reduced to his sperm. It can not be removed from the equation without risk to the child . "
They also feel that the debate on this bioethical project was actually a delusion, since their voice was not heard. Some consider that on such central questions of society as this one, a referendum should be organized.
Others believe that the state should not simply legislate on such private issues. Many are skeptical about the scope of this event, since the amendment on the enlargement of the PMA has already been adopted by the National Assembly in late September.
But there is still hope as long as it is not final and the protesters are there to make their voices heard, says an Orléanaise who participated in its first demonstration.
[RELEASE] Kick off #BabyKids
Nothing is played. History is to write. See you at 13h Place Edmond Rostand. https://t.co/iYwqUbftv1
The absence of a father, an image that disturbs
" The question of fatherless PMA poses eminently the question of the father and therefore of the man. It must be remembered that a woman can not have a child without a man, and there, not only is it said that a father is incidental, but it also means that we do not need men, but just their gametes. In fact, we want their sperm, but we do not want them, "said Ludovine de la Rochere, president of the Manif for all.
With this law, couples of homosexual women will be able to formalize their choice to use the PMA in front of a notary. On the birth certificate of the child, it will be possible to indicate "mother" and "mother", where previously, it was possible to indicate only "mother" and "father".
For the President of the Manif for All, this law shows younger people that the father is ultimately not important: " We send a message extremely negative against each other. Before continuing: " Raising a child, alone, is difficult. If we pretend we can do without a father, we potentially put women in situations of vulnerability, and therefore their children too . "
State intervention beyond its prerogatives
The bioethical bill that provides for the opening of the PMA to all women must be submitted to a solemn vote in the National Assembly on October 15, which the Senate will consider in January.
Future changes in the legislation worry the philosopher and sociologist Jean-Pierre Le Goff. He considers that the state goes beyond its prerogatives with the implementation of a reform that involves a conception of the human condition.
" It is true that the state, in the past, intervened in the anthropological field, with the contraceptive pill or abortion for example. What is happening today is different, in that the state intervenes on a key element that is the problem of procreation, with the possibility that a woman can make a baby alone. The state confuses a little more the dimension of the filiation and in particular erases the figure of the father ".
The sociologist also insists on the precautionary principle, which is put forward in the field of the defense of fauna and flora. For him, this principle should be implemented as soon as we touch the human, as in this case.
" So we'll tell you," Wait ... there are studies of children being raised by female couples ... there is no problem. " But it's way too early! We do not know anything. In addition, there are surveys that are involved, there is a lot of activism. I do not see why politics and the state has to intervene in this area, that way , "said Jean-Pierre Le Goff.
The fear of GPA
With the bioethics law, another thing worries those who oppose it: relaunch the debate on the legalization of GPA (gestational surrogacy), for the moment prohibited in France.
Thursday, October 3, the National Assembly passed an amendment that makes automatic recognition of parentage of children born by GPA in a foreign country, where this practice is allowed.
In a judgment of Friday, October 4, the Court of Cassation also spoke about the status of the "mother of intention" (note: the mother who did not give birth to the child born of a GPA): " A GPA abroad does not, in itself, an obstacle to the recognition in France of a relationship of filiation with the mother of intention ". A victory for the Mennesson family who demanded the transcription into French law, birth certificates of their children born from a GPA carried out in the United States.
[Stop & Release] #GPA and #Filiation - to read on https://t.co/pkOoc4VcNp pic.twitter.com/vaJv7KXduj
Court of Cassation (@Courdecassation) October 4, 2019