France promises to help chemical submission victims amid mass rape trial

FILE PHOTO: French Prime Minister Michel Barnier attends the 106th session of the Congress of Mayors organised by the "France's Mayors' Association" (AMF), in Paris, France, November 21, 2024. REUTERS/Abdul Saboor/File Photo

PARIS (Reuters) - France will launch reforms to help women who fear they have been drugged and then raped, including state-funded test kits, Prime Minister Michel Barnier said on Monday, in the midst of a mass rape trial that has shocked the country.

The kits, that could tell a woman if she had been given such drugs, will be funded through the state health insurance system in several regions on a trial basis, he said, without going into more details.