Victory in France: Government Withdraws Anti-Family Law Following Huge Pro-Life March in Paris

Jeanne Smits : Feb 6, 2014
LifeSiteNews.com

The withdrawal has been characterized by the mainstream press as a major victory for the grassroots movement against same-sex "marriage" that launched in November 2012.

(Paris, France)—The French government withdrew a controversial draft law on the family on Monday, putting it on hold until 2015, one day after giant pro-family demonstrations drew several hundred thousand marchers in Paris and 40,000 more in Lyon, including Cardinal François Barbarin.

The law's main aim was to give legal status to stepfathers and stepmothers in blended families and to promote mediation in divorce proceedings. Simplified divorce was also on the cards, an official report having recommended that "non-confrontational" separations be subject to a simple registration in the hands of the clerk of the court.

The withdrawal has been characterized by the mainstream press as a major victory for the grassroots movement against same-sex "marriage" that launched in November 2012. The unexpected success of the "Manif pour tous" ("Demonstration for all") on Sunday has clearly played a role: no-one was anticipating such a large turnout. Especially as two weeks earlier an estimated 40,000 marched for life in Paris, while on the 26th of January another 20,000 or so persons demonstrated at the call of diverse groups, including some pro-life associations, asking for President François Hollande's resignation.

The imminence of local and European elections in March and May, respectively, coupled with Hollande's unprecedented unpopularity, were likely also at play in the socialist government's move, which wrong-footed Family Minister Dominique Bertinotti, who is still defending her draft text with support from a number of socialist deputies and senators.

But if the objective was to defuse opposition to the Hollande government's multiple attacks on the family, the withdrawal of the draft law will not suffice. Since the government came into office, free and anonymous access to contraception for minors, full funding of abortions, and above all the legalization of homosexual "marriage" and adoption give witness to a violent anti-life policy.