Finland : Parliament Rejects Bill on Euthanasia

by | May 18, 2018 | News

On May 13th, the MPs in Finland rejected a draft bill to legalize euthanasia by a vote of 129 to 60.
This bill had been submitted by a member of the National Assembly following a citizens’ initiative calling for euthanasia to be legalized. The Parliament preferred to support the Social Affairs and Health Commission’s recommendation to create a working group to improve palliative care, and thus voted against legalizing euthanasia.
In Europe, euthanasia has only been legalized in a small minority of countries: the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.

Ireland: Tension over the Abortion Referendum

by | May 17, 2018 | News

On May 25 a referendum on abortion will be held in Ireland.
Abortion has always been illegal in Ireland in both Northern Ireland, (part of the UK) and the independent state of Southern Ireland. Its prohibition was added to the Constitution in 1983, with the 8th Amendment, which aims to protect “the right to life of the unborn child“. Any woman who undergoes an abortion, as well as any individual who helps her obtain access to abortion faces a potential penalty of 14 years in prison. Since 2013, abortion is only allowed when the mother’s life is at risk.
This is the 6th referendum in 35 years on this subject. This time the referendum deals with the repeal of Article 40.3.3, known as the 8th Amendment of the Constitution. The current law does not explicitly prohibit abortion: it provides an equal right to life for the unborn child and the mother.
For the past two weeks, the debate has been raging in Ireland, with the pros and cons confronting each other against a backdrop of strong international pressure. If the majority votes in favor of the referendum, the government intends to draft a law to allow abortion in the first twelve weeks of pregnancy and beyond if the mother’s life is at risk, or if the fetus is at risk of dying before birth or shortly after.
The obvious risk is that political convictions will predominate without ever allowing a genuine debate. Moreover, the crucial issue is still being ignored: that of preventing abortion and supporting women faced with unexpected pregnancies.

Spanish Fertility Clinic Guarantees a Baby or a Refund

by | May 4, 2018 | Medically Assisted Procreation

In mid-April, the Institute of Infertility in Valencia, Spain (IVI), a private group of specialized clinics in reproductive medicine, launched the “IVI Baby” program, which guarantees a refund for women and couples when their treatment protocol is unsuccessful and does not result in having a child.
The stated focus is to give clients peace of mind and guarantee the birth of a baby after following the assisted reproductive technique (ART) program. “With IVI Baby, you’ll bring your baby home in a maximum of 24 months,” claims their website. Nevertheless, before being able to follow the treatment program, various criteria must be met, related to the patient’s age, body mass index (BMI), past health history…
According to Dr. Antonio Requena, General Medical Director of IVI: “the quality of the medical protocols, our advanced laboratories with state-of-the-art technology, and highly qualified professionals together enable this innovative plan to be offered with confidence and guarantee the birth of a baby”.
The IVI group is at the forefront in the field of ART, with over 70 clinics in 13 countries specialized in reproductive medicine, and claims 160,000 children have been born in the past 27 years via IVI.
Caroline Roux, Alliance VITA’s Assistant General Delegate and  Coordinator of Listening Services:
“This type of company has a business based on reproduction. Their so-called ‘innovative’ offer is the equivalent of ‘100 % satisfied or 100% financial refund’. However this is everything but an improvement: the marketing vocabulary in the reproductive business consider babies as objects to be acquired. When Alliance VITA sounds the alert on the risks of dangerous transgression in the reproductive market, they are based on tangible facts. Until today, France has resisted. We are fighting to ensure that the current bioethics law under revision guarantee the non-commodification of reproduction.  A genuine innovation would be a research policy to understand the causes of infertility and to propose treatments to restore fertility in order to give couples reproductive autonomy.”
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Further information: Press Conference on the Reproductive Marketplace.

Vincent Lambert: 3 MDs Appointed for a New Expert Opinion

by | May 4, 2018 | News

On 3 May 2018, the Administrative Court of Châlons-en-Champagne, France announced the appointment of 3 medical experts to examine Vincent Lambert’s clinical condition.
Following the collegial decision on April 9, Vincent Lambert’s attending physician at the Reims Medical Center, Dr Sanchez, authorized “stopping treatment”, which implied that his nutrition and hydration would be ended within the succeeding 10 day time-frame, the Administrative Court of Châlons-en-Champagne ordered an expert report, before rendering a judgment on the referral filed by the parents.
The President of the Administrative Court named medical experts who are specialists in neurology, physical and rehabilitative medicine. They will have to determine whether Vincent’s health condition has evolved since the last assessment performed by order of State Council in 2014.  “The decision concerning the appointment of the panel of experts has been made” and “the experts must submit their report within a month,” said the Administrative Court in Chalons-en-Champagne.
After reviewing the report of the College of Physicians, a new court hearing will have to either confirm or overturn the Medical Center’s decision to stop treatment.
 

Alliance VITA : A 2nd Term for François-Xavier Pérès, as President

Alliance VITA : A 2nd Term for François-Xavier Pérès, as President

by | May 3, 2018 | Press Releases

Alliance VITA’s Council began its electoral process on March 17-18, and a final vote held on Sunday April 29 re-elected  François-Xavier Pérès as Alliance VITA’s President.

He will therefore begin a second 4-year term, which will coincide with the end of French President Macron’s ongoing 5-year term. François-Xavier Pérès was elected president of VITA for the first time in 2014.

The VITA Council has approximately 100 members; including departmental delegates, regional managers and VITA experts, plus members of the association’s permanent staff, with Tugdual Derville serving as the General Delegate.

François-Xavier Pérès, 37 years old, is married, and the couple has 3 children. He joined the VITA team in 2010 in Montauban (department 82). In 2012, when he was transferred to the region of Loire-Atlantique, for his job in human resources risk management, he also accepted the responsibility of becoming VITA’s regional delegate.

He ended Alliance VITA’s 2018 Annual Bioethics Conferences, where 7,300 participants attended via videoconferences on 140 sites, with these words:  “There is no good reason not to make a commitment in favor of life and human dignity. This commitment is not limited to political parties, ethical committees or caregivers. We are all concerned, where we live and work … All around us: it is an issue of justice and humanity. “