September 24, 2018
It was an election promise from President Macron: to extend PMA to single women and lesbian couples. The bill should be presented by the end of the year but already, opponents are stepping up, including the bishops of France, who have just expressed their concern in a statement released on September 20.
The episcopate evokes ” 5 major ethical obstacles to the extension of assisted reproduction ”
As part of the revision of the law on bioethics, which will be discussed in Parliament at the beginning of 2019, the National Consultative Ethics Committee (CCNE) was invited to debate, during the Estates General on bioethics, of all the matters concerning this revision, in particular the project to extend the PMA. Yes the National Council of the Order of Physicians announced Wednesday, September 19 in the newspaper The cross not be hostile to the extension of assisted reproduction to single women and female couples, the French Bishops’ Conference (CEF) declared that it was opposed to it.
In a long joint statement entitled ” The dignity of procreation »And published Thursday, September 20, the Conference of Bishops of France (CEF) confirmed its clear position regarding assisted reproduction extended to single women and lesbian couples: all the bishops of France oppose it. ” The Catholic Church, concerned about the value of fraternity, wishes to make known its concern about society which would be prepared by a legislative development extending the use of techniques. Of PMA, say the bishops. Such an extension of assisted reproduction poses, according to them, ” five major ethical obstacles “.
The bishops of France fear “ the eviction of the responsibilities of the father “And the” surrogacy legalization “
According to the CEF, the extension of the PMA as it is envisaged ” from the outset rules out the biological and social reference to a father “. ” Could we collectively accept that man is seen as a mere supplier of genetic material and that human procreation is thus akin to manufacturing? Asks the episcopate. “The legal suppression of the paternal genealogy would harm the good of the child who would be deprived of his reference to a double filiation “, Also believe the bishops. That ” would socially encourage the reduction, or even the exclusion, of the responsibilities of the father “.
The bishops of France also fear that the next step will be the legalization of surrogacy. “ If the equality argument is used for the benefit of women, then the opening of[la PMA] ‘for all women’ will lead to the legalization of surrogacy “, because ” the reference to equality, inseparable from dignity, applies to women as much as to men “. An unthinkable commodification of the human body, according to the bishops, especially in the case of remuneration for sperm donation. CCNE is expected to deliver its opinion on Tuesday, September 25, but it had already voted in 2017 for the extension of assisted reproduction to couples of women and to single women. The debates on the revision of the law on bioethics in the Assembly promise to be heated.
Aurelie Giraud
To read also: PMA in Spain: an offer “satisfied or refunded”
