France moves to abolish concept of marital duty to have sex

France's National Assembly approved a bill to abolish the concept of "conjugal rights," clarifying that marriage does not imply a duty to have sex. The bill amends the civil code to explicitly state that "community of living" does not create an obligation for sexual relations and prevents lack of sexual relations from being used as grounds for fault-based divorce. While the law is unlikely to significantly impact court rulings, it aims to deter marital rape and challenge the societal notion of a wife's "duty" to have sex with her husband. The move follows a 2023 European Court of Human Rights ruling that condemned France for allowing refusal of sex to be grounds for a fault-based divorce, highlighting the need for legal clarification. The bill's sponsor, Green MP Marie-Charlotte Garin, emphasized that marriage should not imply lifelong consent to sex.

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