Filiation of children born of medically assisted procreation, reimbursement of PMA for female couples, freezing of oocytes… In an interview with the JDD, the Minister of Health announced some measures present in the future bioethics law.
“Society is ready”. In a long interview granted this Sunday to the JDDthe Minister of Health detailed several points which will appear in the draft law on the revision of the bioethics law, presented on July 26 in the Council of Ministers.
The partial end of donor anonymity
Among the measures announced by Agnès Buzyn is the origin of filiation for children born of medically assisted procreation (PMA), on which she wishes to “lift the veil”. The future law should therefore allow children born by sperm donation to have access to information on their donor when they have reached majority.
“Today, many children do not know that they were born thanks to a donor. It is not registered anywhere, it is a family secret”, declared the Minister of Health. “A filiation must be established which has the same scope and the same effects as the biological or adoptive filiation without upsetting the current law of filiation. It would be based on a recognition of filiation before the birth of the baby”, she detailed . This “new type of filiation” should concern female couples using a donor as well as heterosexual couples.
Agnès Buzyn however assured that at the time of the donation, the identity of the donor will be preserved, but that the child will be able to “have access to his story and the identity of his donor when he has reached 18 years of age”. “It can be access to non-identifying information about the donor or even knowing his identity if the donor has consented to it either at the time of the donation, or when the adult requests it, “added the minister, specifying that “The modalities of this access to origins are studied by the Council of State.” “In all cases, people taking this step will be accompanied,” she promised.
Study of egg freezing
Another measure mentioned by Agnès Buzyn in the interview with JDD : that of egg freezing. Currently banned in France, it is practiced in Belgium and Spain, where many women go to have their oocytes vitrified and thus give themselves the chance to have a child later. The Minister of Health said that the government was going to authorize it “in a very supervised way to avoid a drop in the birth rate due in particular to the extension of studies”. “The conservation of oocytes could be open from the age of 30 or 32,” added the minister.
Regarding the reimbursement of the PMA, Agnès Buzyn also indicated that it would be granted to all and that the age limit for reimbursement, set at 43, would remain unchanged.
However, post-mortem PMA will not appear in the bioethics bill even if it considers that this question “deserves debate”. “The parental project of a single woman cannot be compared to the project of a bereaved couple.”
