French MPs have approved a bill to legalise medical assisted pregnancies for lesbians and single women and allow two “mothers” to feature on a child’s birth certificate.

The hotly-debated law has stoked opposition from the Catholic Church and conservatives who warn it could create a generation of “fatherless” children.

To loud applause, the National Assembly passed the draft law by 55 votes to 17. It must now pass through the majority Right-wing senate.

Under current French law, only heterosexual couples have the right to use medically assisted procreation methods such as in vitro fertilisation, commonly known as IVF.

Lesbians and single women often travel over the border to Belgium or Spain to fertility clinics, paying thousands of euros for treatment, a situation they say is unfair.

The bill also is set to change the law for lesbian couples to write "mother and mother" instead of "mother and father” on the child's birth certificate.