IN an apparent response to multiple protests that drew tens of thousands of protesters to the streets of Paris and other cities, French President François Hollande recently withdrew the family law reform bill that would have legalized surrogate motherhood and “assisted procreation for lesbian couples.” I had read about this last week, but had put it aside in the hope of finding more information about it. Unsurprisingly, it has been under-reported in the press. Galliawatch reported it on February 4th.

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Buck writes:

You link the Breitbart story by Dr. Susan Berry. She misquotes her linked source “France24, a source in Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault’s office said…”. She purposely left out (I say purposely because in our cut-and-paste world I don’t believe it was an accident) the two very important words: “this year”. “This year” was in the quoted story’s subtitle and in the sentence that she “quoted”. A simple read of the story indicates to me a political tactic was likely the reason for withdrawing the legislation for now, not a rethinking of principle and their intention of “dropping plans” forever.

A source in Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault’s office said on Monday that the government would no longer present a bill this year that was aimed at modernising the law to reflect the new “diversity” of families.

(…)

The government’s retreat showed that, with President François Hollande’s popularity at an historic low and municipal elections coming up next month, it is eager to avoid further conflicts with increasingly frustrated centre-right voters.

(…)

One of Hollande’s aides told journalists the legislative priority would now be fighting near-record unemployment and pushing through a tax break scheme designed to get companies hiring again.

Laura writes:

That is the most that could be expected from the Socialists, who were not going to retreat on the principles or kill these proposals.

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