PARIS (LifeSiteNews) — A majority of French MPs have voted in favor of a bill that will open up adoption to non-married couples.
The vote took place at the National Assembly on Tuesday and was the final vote of a series of votes on this issue. The proposal put forward by left-wing French MP Monique Limon was passed with 96 votes in favor and 15 against.
The bill was initially submitted in 2020, but members of the two houses of the French parliament were unable to come to an agreement then. The right-wing majority in the Senate, the upper house of the French parliament, deemed that the text went against the principle of “giving a family to a child and not the opposite.”
But in France, the National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament, has the final word when a bill does not get the support of both houses.
The main measure put forward in the bill is the opening up of adoption to non-married couples, which, in the words of French MP Coralie Dubost, is meant to put an end to “discrimination of unions or LGBT parenting.”
Right-wing MPs mostly opposed the bill, deeming marriage to be “the most sheltered environment for a child.”
However, left-wing MPs such as Monique Limon, who came up with the proposal, insisted that marriage is “no guarantee of stability” for a child.
Until now, only married couples and single individuals were able to adopt children in France. But the new bill will open up adoption to non-married couples living together, as well as couples who have registered a PACS or “civil solidarity pact.”
The PACS, unique to France, is a contractual form of civil union between two adults. It was passed by the French Parliament in October of 1999, mainly as a way to give some form of legal recognition to same-sex couples.
Since then, however, another bill passed by the National Assembly in May of 2017 legalized same-sex “marriage” and the adoption of children by same-sex couples.
The new bill passed on Tuesday is meant to facilitate even more the adoption of children by same-sex couples.
Another measure contained in the bill was a change to the legal minimum age required to adopt which was lowered from 28 to 26. The minimal duration of a couple’s shared life was also reduced from two years to one year.