To increase the number of potential gamete donors, Marisol Touraine is expanding the donation of oocytes and sperm to people without children.
Egg and sperm donation is evolving in France. a decree published this Thursday in the Official Journal allows adults who have not had children to donate their gametes. This measure passed during the 2011 revision of the bioethics law aims to increase the number of donors to meet the needs of 3,000 infertile couples.
Because for several years, France has been facing a shortage of gametes. While it would take 900 donors and 300 donors, 456 women and 268 men took the approach in 2014, according to the Biomedicine Agency.
Faced with this observation, the government decided to act and bring out of the boxes an almost forgotten decree. “From now on, any woman from 18 to 37 years old and any man from 18 to 45 years old in good health will be able to apply for the donation of oocytes or sperm”, explains the Ministry of Health.
Compensation
But the real novelty of this text is the consideration provided for nulliparous donors. Women and men who have not had children will be able to freeze part of their donation. “They will be able to benefit later from part of their donated gametes, only if they become infertile”, specifies the ministry.
In addition, the decree provides that donors will be questioned in writing each year to find out whether they wish to maintain this storage method. In the event that they no longer wish to keep their gametes cool, donors must confirm their wish in writing after a three-month cooling-off period. The gametes will then be used for the donation.
In addition, to respect the French principles of donation – free, anonymity and voluntary consent – legislators have specified that the conservation of gametes is secondary to donation. The decree thus specifies “that at least half of the mature oocytes from the same sample will be directed towards donation” and in the event that the quantity and / or quality is deemed insufficient, the donor will not be able to keep a part of his gift.
A gift blackmail?
However, this compensation represents a profound paradigm shift. Today, the freezing of its own gametes is only allowed for medical reasons, for example in the case of cancers. Allowing it to donors without children therefore opens a gap.
For some specialists in medically assisted procreation, this provision is discriminatory. “The principle in France is free, so here we are cleverly bypassing by talking about compensation,” comments Dr. Sylvie Epelboin, head of the Center for medically assisted procreation at the Bichat-Claude Bernard Hospital (Paris). But what is very disturbing is that the possibility of keeping his oocytes for himself if his donation has been productive enough is only offered to women who have not had children, which creates total discrimination. incomprehensible. “
For others, this provision is a clever way of responding to a social fact. “Anything that can open egg donation is positive, but we underline the scandalous blackmail against egg donation: ‘you can freeze your eggs if you donate’. For us, this measure is insufficient. we ask that the self-preservation of oocytes be generalized to all women ”, denounces Prof. Bernard Hédon, president of the National College of French Gynecologists and Obstetricians (CNGOF) who spoke in favor of the freezing of oocytes in 2012 .
Societal oocyte self-preservation has been debated for many years in France. It could also return to the front of the stage in a few months when the National Consultative Ethics Committee delivers its opinion on medically assisted procreation.
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