Former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, now leader of Macron’s deputies in the National Assembly, is making headlines by announcing his intention to introduce ‘ethical’ surrogacy in France—a practice that is currently prohibited. For President Emmanuel Macron, authorising surrogacy is a ‘red line’ that must not be crossed. What strategy is the ambitious MP, who is a candidate to succeed Macron, pursuing?
On Thursday, August 21st, Gabriel Attal announced that he wanted to organise a convention within the presidential party, Renaissance, to discuss the possible legalisation of ‘ethical’ surrogacy in France.
The aim is to engage in discussion with experts and doctors with a view to eventually introducing a bill to make surrogacy possible in France.
The former prime minister’s entourage intends to present this move in the most favourable light possible. This would be ‘ethical’ surrogacy, strictly regulating the conditions under which the surrogate mother would be compensated. The measure would not be a favour granted to male same-sex couples—who are de facto excluded from the assisted reproduction law passed in 2021, which allows female couples to have children through sperm donation. “67% of couples using surrogacy are heterosexual couples: this is primarily a measure to boost the birth rate,” Attal’s collaborators told the press. They did not set a specific timetable for the move. According to Le Figaro, the issue would only be decided through the next presidential election.
Precisely: this is indeed a matter of presidential ambitions.
By opening this front, Attal is in direct conflict with Macron, who is not in favour of the measure, as he explained in an interview with the women’s magazine Elle in May 2024. For him, such a measure “is not compatible with the dignity of women; it is a form of merchandising of their bodies.”
Another fierce opponent of surrogacy is right-wing minister Bruno Retailleau, who was also outraged when he learnt of Attal’s plan. When he was still leader of the Les Républicains senators, before joining the government, he even introduced a bill banning the use of surrogate mothers. Retailleau denounced the hypocrisy behind Attal’s proposal, which aims to cloak a reprehensible practice in good intentions: “Words are being twisted to justify the unjustifiable: in this case, that rich men can rent the wombs of poor women, ignoring the bond that is created between a child and its mother during pregnancy. No amount of progressivism can erase this reality,” he explained.
This double opposition is therefore certainly part of Gabriel Attal’s conscious political strategy, as he makes no secret of his presidential ambitions for 2027 and intends to make a name for himself.
By taking this position in the public arena, he is marking his differences not only with the president of the republic, whose unpopularity is no longer a secret, but also with the government’s right wing, of which Retailleau is now the favourite.
This remains a risky gamble. Within Macron’s camp, opinions on the measure are still far from unanimous.
