Politics. A miracle baby: Leader of the Greens, Marine Tondelier, announces she is pregnant

Marine Tondelier, the leader of the ecologists and a candidate in the 2027 presidential election, announced on Monday that she is three months pregnant after a miscarriage and unsuccessful fertility treatments. “I am going through a contrasting period. Difficult in terms of politics, but very happy on a personal level, as I am expecting a child, news that fills me with joy, even though it took me by surprise,” explained Marine Tondelier, a mother of a son, in an interview with Elle magazine published on Monday. “A pregnant campaign, it was challenging,” confessed the 39-year-old national secretary of the ecologists, after the municipal elections. “It is also a relief to announce my pregnancy today. Since January, I felt like I was living a double life.”

The ecologists’ candidate for the left-wing primary revealed that she had become pregnant once before, after being elected as the national secretary of the Greens in 2022 but experiencing a miscarriage after a few weeks. “I did not expect it at all, and it was a very violent moment, which I barely spoke about to anyone, not even my family, to avoid making people sad,” she said.

A few months later, she and her partner began fertility treatments. “Like many others, we faced failures in fertility treatments, and we were offered IVF. I started treatment the week after the dissolution of 2024 and became pregnant again. But I was shocked to learn during the first ultrasound that the pregnancy would not continue. I went through very difficult weeks.” She added, “With my partner, after many failures, we decided to pause the project. And then, a few months later, I became pregnant again […]. A “miracle baby,” as they say.”

Asked about what could be improved in terms of fertility treatments, Marine Tondelier advocated for the possibility of analyzing embryos before insemination, in “a well-defined framework,” as is done in many other European countries – a practice currently prohibited in France.

Facing internal criticism within her party, a minority group within the ecologists called for a Federal Council meeting to assess the “significant defeat” in the municipal elections. The group “Making ecology win,” led by deputy Jérémie Iordanoff, regretted the lack of accountability following the losses in the elections. They also questioned the rushed process of nominating an ecological candidate for the left-wing primary before the elections, noting a lack of priority. Marine Tondelier won the internal primary of the ecologists in December (with 86% of the votes) to represent her party in the left-wing primary for the 2027 presidential election.

This group urges for a “urgent need” to evaluate the previous elections properly and to make strategic decisions before the upcoming elections, calling for an extraordinary Federal Council meeting as soon as possible.