France to offer fertility checks to young people in bid to combat falling birth rates

Emmanuel Macron is to offer fertility checks to all 18 to 25-year-olds as part of a plan to combat declining birth rates.

The French president first announced his ambition to enact French “demographic rearmament” at a press conference in January as part of a wide array of measures aimed at reviving his stuttering second term.

France’s birth rate fell by 7pc last year to 1.8 children per woman – its lowest level since the end of World War II. However, it still has the highest rate in Europe.

“Habits are changing, and people are having children later and later,” Mr Macron said in January.

“Infertility, both male and female, has risen sharply in recent years and is causing many couples to suffer.”

In an interview with Elle magazine published yesterday, the 46-year-old president went further by announcing that a “fertility check-up” would be offered to everyone around the age of 20.

He said people would be reimbursed by state health insurance in order to “establish a complete assessment, semen analysis or ovarian reserve”.

“We are going to organise campaigns in favour of oocyte self-preservation for women who want to have children later in life”, he said, promising a major research drive into infertility.

The overall aim was to “generate a dynamic birth rate,” he added.

To reduce waiting times for access to fertility treatment − which are currently around 16 to 24 months − Mr Macron said he intended to “open up to private centres oocyte self-preservation,” which until now have been “reserved for hospitals”.

He also promised to improve access to medically assisted procreation.

“Every woman should have free access to her body. But one figure stands out for me: the fertility rate is 1.8 and the rate of desire for a child is 2.3,” he told the women’s magazine.

“We mustn’t make those who don’t want to have children feel guilty, but we mustn’t let the poor organisation of our society prevent women and families from having children if they so wish.”

Mr Macron also outlined his future birth leave scheme, which “will come into force at the end of 2025”.

The aim is to pay young parents who stop working or reduce their working hours to look after their offspring.

“Three months for mothers, three months for fathers, cumulative during the child’s first year and compensated at 50pc of salary up to the social security ceiling”, he said.

However, the French president reiterated his opposition to surrogate motherhood as it was “not compatible with the dignity of women, it is a form of commodification of their bodies,” he argued.

“That said, I obviously think that the parents of children born through surrogacy abroad should be respected and supported. They are loving families,” he added.

Mr Macron – who has no children, although his wife Brigitte has three from her first marriage – also suggested opening a “debate” on the introduction of a possible “duty to visit” for fathers in single-parent families where women are the main carers. “We’ve allowed men to exonerate themselves from all parental duties,” he said.

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