Assisted conception available to all women from 2018

Medically assisted conception will be made available to all women from 2018, secretary of state for equality Marlène Schiappa has announced.

Known in France as procréation médicalement assistée (PMA), medically assisted conception, including IVF treatment, is currently only available to heterosexual couples in a long-term relationship who suffer from a medically recognised infertility condition, or who are at risk of transmitting a serious illness to the child in the womb.

Opening PMA to all women was a campaign promise of Emmanuel Macron during the Presidential campaign, Ms Shiappa told BFMTV. It is, she said, "a matter of social justice".

In June, France's medical ethics watchdog, the Comité consultatif national d'éthique, voted in favour of extending it to single women and women in a same-sex relationship.