The newly installed (and presumably short lived) French government led by Michel Barnier only includes centre-right and right-right ministers, several of whom voted against reproductive rights and inclusion advances like same-sex marriage in the past. This is in particular the case for Patrick Hetzel, the Ministry of Higher Education (in charge of the French universities!), a former professor of marketing, a current member of Parliament, & an arch-conservative attacking the French Planned Parenthood for its “ideology”, who also took anti-scientific and conspiracy positions during the COVID pandemic, as a Raoult supporter and anti-vax. As illustrated by this quote:
«Très souvent, au moment où elles émergent, les ruptures de paradigme permises par les avancées scientifiques sont le fait d’individus qui, au sein de la communauté scientifique, sont minoritaires. Nous devons donc être très attentifs à éviter le développement d’un dogme qui serait celui d’une science officielle : ce serait tout à fait dangereux.»¹ Patrick Hetzel, November 2023
¹Very often, when they emerge, paradigm breaks made possible by scientific advances are the work of individuals who, within the scientific community, are the minority. We must therefore be very careful to avoid endorsing a dogma that would correspond to official science: this would be most dangerous.
