The demonstrations began even before the discussions, a sign that the subject is still raising tensions. About twenty members of associations, including the Manif pour tous, met Monday afternoon in front of the National Assembly, to express their opposition to the bioethics bill, back this week in the hemicycle. The flagship measure of this vast bill, the extension of assisted reproduction to single women and female couples, crystallizes the debate in particular.
The text also includes a reform of filiation, a modification of access to origins for people born thanks to a sperm donation or even the self-preservation of oocytes. Another point already announces heated debates in the hemicycle: ROPA. Behind this acronym, a medical technique which allows a woman to donate oocytes to her partner if she suffers from infertility, and thus allow her to bear the couple's child after donating sperm.
"It's going to be a little more rock'n'roll than at first reading"
It is the last text of this summer session, with 2,300 amendments to the program and a legislative time of 25 hours, which could in fact double. The kick-off was given at the end of the day. Politically, the stakes are very high for Emmanuel Macron, since the PMA is undoubtedly one of his most symbolic campaign promises. "It's going to be a little more rock'n'roll than at first reading," predicts a deputy.
Voted a first time, and not without debate, in the National Assembly and in the Senate, the examination of the text was then postponed due to the coronavirus crisis. Opponents find additional arguments: examination "on the sly", "in the midst of an economic crisis" imposing other priorities. Xavier Breton (LR) denounced Monday in Le Figaro a "passage in force", and said he feared "that militant deputies take this text hostage".