[Press Release] Bioethics: New Transgressions Enacted by French Senatorial Committee

In less than 48 hours, the Senatorial special committee examined and amended the pending bioethics law in France.

Tugdual Derville, Alliance VITA’s General Delegate stated: “We are very concerned about the bioethics committee’s votes, and we hope that in the upcoming session, the senators will be more cautious and wise. Article 1 regarding “ART without a father” was unfortunately adopted, and this, by only a slight margin of 4 votes. And if the committee refused ART reimbursement except for causes of infertility, which will inevitably cause an uproar, nonetheless, this welcome concession does not balance the large number of transgressions added to the draft law of the deputies.

Namely, the text approves on: experimenting on embryos for longer periods of time (21 days), adding new eugenic procedures with pre-implantation screening to select embryos, re-introducing the double-sorting process – the so-called “double-hope baby” – and ambiguously eliminating physicians’ conscientious objection clause for therapeutic abortions. The Senate could miss a historical opportunity to make an impact, if it fails to consider the increasing eugenics this text contains.

As a protection against the dangers of surrogacy, the transcription of birth certificates established abroad will be refused if the name of the surrogate mother is not specified, or if two ‘fathers’ are mentioned. But this restriction is a small compensation of the new transgressions introduced.

Hence, we ask our senators to have the courage to voice opposition to the general impetus of this law which, as it stands, does not deserve to be called ‘bioethical’.

Society will progress provided that paternity, maternity and its most vulnerable members are respected, because they are the retaining walls of human ecology. For this reason, Alliance VITA calls for a large attendance to the national protest on January 19, 2020 in Paris with the “March for the Children”.