When Benedicte Blanchet, a 40-year-old who lives in a Paris suburb, decided that she wanted to have a child on her own and not wait to meet the right man, nothing prepared her for the costly obstacle course that was to follow. Under existing laws in France, which are among the strictest in western Europe, only heterosexual couples who are married or have been living together for at least two years and have difficulties conceiving a child, are given access to medically assisted reproduction, such as sperm donation or in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments. “It’s really hard. Since the French...