by NexDev | December 17, 2015 | End of life, Laws, surveys, protagonists, Old age and Dependency, Press Releases
Alliance VITA denounces the vote for the measures, added by amendment on the sly and without real public debate, which will cause a drift in French medical ethics.
Among the measures, Alliance VITA is particularly alarmed by :
- elimination of the 7-day period of reflection before having recourse to an interruption of pregnancy. This decision is not respectful of women, or their doctors, whereas it is a definitive act with human lives at stake. On the contrary, Alliance VITA reminds us of the urgency for a real prevention policy for abortion.
- recourse to post-mortem organ harvesting, based uniquely on the principle of “presumed consent”, without seeking prior agreement from family members. Alliance VITA regrets the utilitarian concept of medicine: to obtain more transplants, without taking the family’s wishes into account, is a denial of humanity.
- autorisation of biomedical research on gametes and embryos, in the framework of medically assisted reproduction, for biomedical research where the boundaries are blurred and can also be performed for purposes of gestation. Whereas such measures concern bioethical laws and require the most extreme caution, since it involves human embryos, the government obtained parliamentary approval to once again exceed the legal framework for this type of research. Moreover, this initiative contradicts the principles proposed for authorizing embryo research in 2013, notably that embryo research would be performed under the control of the Biomedical Agency.
Furthermore, Alliance VITA once again expresses its’ concern that the consequences of other measures still attempting to trivialize even more access to abortion: especially those for mid-wives and those which lead to fixing quotas for the number of abortions to be performed per institution. However, VITA notes with satisfaction the PM’s wise decision to refuse outlawing embalming in the homes of the deceased.
by NexDev | December 11, 2015 | Fertility and pregnancy, Maternity
The National Institute of Demographic Studies (INED) published a study on December 10, 2015 in the category “Population and society” entitled “Unemployment delays the arrival of the first child in France”. This publication follows an ERFI survey performed by INED and the French National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) in metropolitan France for which 10,079 men and women aged 18 to 79 were questioned at the end of 2005, then three and six years later (end of 2008 and end of 2011).
The authors report that the men and women had less of an intention to have their first child in the near future when they are unemployed. Furthermore for those who wish to become parents, the project is delayed when they experience a period of unemployment. For men, this delay is explained by deferring the forming of a couple and for women by waiting for a stable professional position. However for those who are already parents, unemployment had no effect on their project to have children.
The study concludes that the current context of economic crisis questions the long term effects of unemployment on fecundity. The studies carried out for previous time periods showed that the decline in fecundity observed in instances of high unemployment was temporary and was often followed by a rebound in births when economic prosperity was restored. With a pervasive backdrop of a two-child family model and social policy which eases the perils, the authors estimate that the effect of unemployment remains limited for future descendants.
by NexDev | December 11, 2015 | Bioethics, Medically Assisted Procreation
The rainbow children, “Association for families and future LGBT families” published a declaration on its’ site after their reception at the Elysée on December 8, by the director of Francois Hollande’s cabinet. This association, which campaigns especially in favor of access to assisted reproduction and surrogacy practices for same-sex couples, concluded upon exiting the appointment that the president of the French Republic will take no political initiative concerning opening access to gestational surrogacy for women couples. According to the Elysée statement, they will await counsel from the French National Consultative Ethics Committee, specifying that even if it would gives a favorable declaration, this issue would be a subject of debate during the next revision of the bioethics law, as provided by the law.
by NexDev | December 11, 2015 | Bioethics, Medically Assisted Procreation
A symposium was held on December 9th at the University of London, organized by Progress for Educational Trust (PET), a British registered charity. PET’s principal objective is to create an environment where ethically sound research and practice in genetics, assisted conception, and embryo and stem cell research can “thrive”. PET specifies that the ultimate beneficiaries of all their work are families and individuals threatened by infertility and genetic diseases.
This day was financed by private companies, research centers and the “wellcome trust” already implied in the common declaration of support for research and finance of genome modification methods, notably those linked to the use of the « CRISPR / cas9 » technique elaborated last September in the United Kingdom.
The day-long conference was entitled: From three-person IVF to genome editing: the science and ethics of engineering the embryo.
Chief scientific advisor to the UK government, Professor Sir Mark Walport, spoke on the theme “Why the UK should be leading the discussion on embryo engineering”. He announced “that he believes there are circumstances where genetic modification of human embryos could be acceptable and that the UK should open this path”. Already in England a request for permission was formulated by London’s Francois Crick Institute to the HFEA (Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority, the ethical authority for the country on human reproduction subjects) to proceed on experiments of genome modification of human embryos for research purposes, even if they are not intended to be implanted in a uterus for pregnancy. In February 2015, the British Parliament already gave the green light for in vitro conception of babies created from the DNA from three individuals, to eliminate the risk of transmitting a genetic disease from the biological mother. The first babies born with the DNA from 3 different parents could be born as soon as next year. These changes in their DNA will be transmitted to their own children.
Professor John Harris, who also spoke at the congress in Washington in December 2015, held a conference entitled « we must improve on evolution”.
Essentially this day was consecrated to modifications that are possible today for gametes and human embryos at an early stage of their development.
“IVF with 3 parents” and genome modification by CRISPR-Cas9 are cutting-edge genetic techniques, which affect human beings’ DNA, in a transmissible manner for future generations. They often involve serious ethical stakes, and we can ask ourselves the question: tomorrow will we be producing “custom-made babies”? How are we going to protect the human genome which is part of the heritage of humanity, and to totally exclude the risks of eugenics, as reminded recently by UNESCO?
The conclusions of the symposium will soon be published.
by NexDev | December 10, 2015 | Bioethics, Medically Assisted Procreation
As December 10 marks the celebration of the International Day for Human Rights, No Maternity Traffic, of which Alliance VITA is an active member, assembled on the eve, December 9, 2015, before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg: the collective movements denounce a serious violation of women and children’s rights brought to light by the Italian affair Paradiso.
At the same moment, the European Court for Human Rights was holding an audience in the High Chamber concerning the affair “the Italian social services taking charge of a nine-month old child born in Russia following a contract of gestational surrogacy. Furthermore, as it was later established the couple had no biological link with the child.” The adults had signed a gestational surrogacy contract to buy a child in Russia for 49,000 €. The child was then taken from them by the Italian social services to be given to a couple awaiting adoption. The European Court for Human Rights condemned Italy for this act, which however protected the child. The Italian government appealed this decision which was therefore reexamined on the 9th by the judges. The definitive judgment in the form of a preliminary ruling from the High Chamber will be rendered in a few weeks.
In a press release, No Maternity Traffic explained that « during the audience, the debate was centered on issues regarding the child’s interest and the legitimacy of gestational surrogacy.”
(…) « The plaintiffs held that it is not an issue in the present case to establish a landmark ruling on the conventionality of surrogate motherhood; nevertheless they reproached the Italian government to absolutely forbid this practice and to have based their decision on this principle. That being, the two parties agree on the fact that the outcome of this case will determine the ability for individuals to circumvent their national legislation with impunity to illegally import children conceived in violation of national public law. According to the plaintiff’s lawyer this impediment would be harmful, whereas for the Italian government, the objective of fighting against the trafficking of children requires the power to oppose such practices.”
No Maternity traffic recalls that « The use of women and the trafficking of humans are contradictory to the European Convention of Human Rights and in violation of international conventions notably that of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CIDE), on eliminating all forms of discrimination in regards to women, in the fight against trafficking of human beings.”
For Caroline Roux, director of VITA International: « It is stupefying the European court ‘ which represent Human Rights’ closed their eyes during the first ruling on the principle of Gestational Surrogacy. The European Court for Human Rights did not assure its’ role to protect the rights of women and children. That a child is produced to be bought, denied access to all his biological roots, that a woman be exploited as a “surrogate carrier” then erased from the life of the child, was not taking into account in the first ruling. We assembled on December 10, International day of human rights: we strongly denounce that this committee, which should be the guardian, seriously failed and we hope the ruling will be revised in the appeal.
No Maternity Traffic encourages the diffusion of the petition, launched by the Collective Movement requesting worldwide prohibition of Gestational Surrogacy, which has already accumulated over 109,000 signatures. http:/www.nomaternitytraffic.eu/fr/.
