Minister Bérangère Couillard in favor of a decree to “counter” the proposed law on endometriosis carried by the RN

The Minister responsible for Equality between women and men, Bérangère Couillard, announced on Tuesday September 26 that she was “totally” in favor of a decree on endometriosis, to “to counter” the bill that the National Rally (RN) intends to table in October. Endometriosis is a chronic disease that affects between 1.5 and 2.5 million women in France and results in painful periods, but also sometimes digestive, urinary, lumbar, or leg heaviness.

The far-right party has announced its intention to bring forward a text for “support women who suffer from endometriosis”on October 12 at the Assembly, granting them long-term care status (ALD) “exempt”, “fully covered by health insurance”. This approach embarrasses the RN’s adversaries, particularly on the left where voices have been raised to ask the government to take the lead.

Countering the National Rally

Bérangère Couillard thus affirmed on Radio J Tuesday morning that she was “ready to go through the decree” as some of the RN’s opponents demand, Bérangère Couillard responded: “Totally (…) we really need to counter this text and pass it by decree to tell the National Rally (…) ‘we didn’t wait for you to do it'”. The minister also called for “think about a much broader text” on “women’s health throughout their lives”.

The minister gave no indication of the content of this possible decree or a date. Last week, government spokesperson Olivier Véran assured that the executive would not intervene on this subject before the RN defends its text on October 12 in the National Assembly.