The National Consultative Ethics Committee (CCNE) has ruled: it is in favor of opening up Medically Assisted Reproduction (PMA) for women without a male partner with sperm donation. These are therefore single women and lesbian couples. This opinion is only advisory and does not lead to the opening of new rights for the persons concerned, but it could open a legislative debate. During the presidential campaign, Emmanuel Macron had indeed declared himself in favor of expanding access to assisted reproduction for couples of women and single women, but remained reserved pending the opinion of CCNE. The subject has entered the public sphere since the debates on marriage for all in February 2013 but no law has legislated on the issue since.
A risk of lengthening the waiting period
ART therefore remains for the moment accessible only to infertile heterosexual couples. When questioned by Le Monde, CCNE also points to aspects to which it should pay attention: “the possible consequences for the child, the risks of increased commodification, and the conditions of feasibility”. If more people can use the technique, demand may increase, but not the means. The wait time to obtain gametes (reproductive cells) may lengthen. The Ethics Committee therefore proposes to reflect on the conditions of access and reimbursement by the Health Insurance. In the meantime, assisted reproduction is already practiced by the wealthiest French women in need of children who go abroad, especially to Spain or Belgium. At the same time, the Ethics Committee decides against Surrogacy and the storage by freezing of oocytes for a late pregnancy.
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