The French Senate on Wednesday approved
an article allowing gay couples to adopt children, which is part of a
proposed gay marriage bill.
Passage came a day after senators voted
in favor of expanding marriage to include gay and lesbian couples.
Debate on Wednesday was dominated by
conservatives who argued that allowing gay couples to adopt would
pave the way for medically assisted procreation (MAP) and surrogacy.
In France, medical procedures such as artificial insemination and in
vitro fertilization are only available to heterosexual couples who
can prove they have been together two years.
The decision to exclude MAP from the
draft bill was met with strong criticism from France's gay rights
groups.
Opponents of marriage equality, or
“marriage for all” as the French refer to it, had pinned their
hopes on the bill's adoption clause as the their best possible chance
to have the marriage reform rejected.
“If a law passes containing the words
'marriage for same-sex couples,' then there will be artificial
reproductive technologies,” an opponent told the UK's The
Guardian. “I don't want this law because it's a lie. It's a
law that distorts ancestry, it's a law that weakens links.”
France's lower house of parliament, the
National Assembly, approved the measure in February.
Debate on the more than 280 amendments
filed is expected to last until Friday or Saturday.
(Related: Uruguay
parliament approves gay marriage bill.)