Contents
- Surrogacy, or surrogacy: True or False
- Surrogacy is a medically assisted reproduction technique
- In surrogacy, the oocytes are those of the surrogate mother
- Surrogacy is prohibited in France
- Children born to a surrogate mother and a French father cannot be French
- The French are against surrogacy
- Hundreds of French couples use surrogacy every year
Surrogacy, or surrogacy: True or False
Surrogacy is a medically assisted reproduction technique
True. In case of’absence or malformation of the uterus, or fertility problems not resolved by “classic” ART, desire for a child in a homosexual couple, or for a single person, one can have recourse to a surrogate mother who “lends” her womb for nine months. Concretely, it agrees to host a embryo resulting from fertilization in which she did not participate, and to carry the pregnancy to give birth to a child who is not genetically her own.
In surrogacy, the oocytes are those of the surrogate mother
False. In the case of surrogacy, the oocytes are not those of the surrogate mother. They come either from the “intentional mother”, Or a third wife. On the other hand, the oocytes are those of the surrogate mother in the case of a procreation for others. A rarer technique because of the psychological questions it raises, in particular the risk of attachment of the surrogate mother to the child.
Surrogacy is prohibited in France
True. Surrogacy is prohibited in France in the name of the principle of unavailability of the human body (bioethics law of July 29, 1994, provision confirmed in 2011). This is also the position of Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Hungary, Portugal and Japan. Under varying conditions from one jurisdiction to another, surrogacy is authorized in several countries like the United Kingdom, Russia, certain states of the United States, or even India. In Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark, it is not prohibited.
Advocates of surrogacy in France fear that this ban encourages reproductive tourism, that is to say the use of surrogate mothers in countries that allow it (sometimes without strict supervision), and therefore possible financial and ethical abuses.
Children born to a surrogate mother and a French father cannot be French
True. Since January 2013, a circular from the Minister of Justice has asked the French courts to issue ” French nationality certificates »To children born abroad to a French father and a surrogate mother, in order to give a legal status to these children. But the Nantes public prosecutor’s office, the only competent authority on the subject, still refuses the transcription of birth certificates on the French civil status. Children born by surrogacy cannot therefore have a passport or identity card, which makes their integration in France very complicated. The European legislation is nevertheless in contradiction with this French posture. After a first conviction in June 2014, the European Court of Human Rights also condemned France again, on July 22, 2016, for having refused to recognize the filiation of children born by surrogacy.
The French are against surrogacy
False. A survey carried out by IFOP, for the daily “La Croix”, and published on January 3, 2018, reveals that 64% of respondents say they are in favor of surrogacy : 18% of them in all cases, and 46% “for medical reasons only”.
Hundreds of French couples use surrogacy every year
True. Couples who go abroad to resort to surrogacy are counted in the hundreds, if not more.