[Press Release]: Understanding Bioethics Ethical and Humanistic Implications of France’s New Bioethics Bill

[Press Release]: Understanding Bioethics Ethical and Humanistic Implications of France’s New Bioethics Bill

by | September 13, 2019 | ART, Bioethics, Bioethics Law, Medically Assisted Procreation, News

The French Parliamentary Committee started the first readings of the new bioethics law on September 10, prior to the public sessions scheduled to be held on September 24th.

For this event, Alliance VITA has published an Understanding Bioethics (n ° 49) to give a summary of the real consequences at stake in this new law.

Tugdual Derville, Alliance VITA’s General Delegate, and author of “Time for Mankind” (published by Plon, 2016) deplores:

“We are facing two problems for a critical analysis of this law. 

The first one is the law’s exclusive focus on extending access to artificial procreation techniques, the so-called ‘ART for all’, notably by deleting the criterion of infertility.  The vast majority of the public remains ignorant that other dikes will be breached, to the point of manufacturing transgenic or chimerical embryos.

Secondly, these exaggerated distortions are misappropriating time and money away from Parliament, medicine and health insurance reimbursements, instead of addressing two bioethics challenges that society is facing. Although generally overlooked by public health policies, the first one is for therapy and prevention of medical infertility, which concerns a growing number of French citizens. The other challenge is the fight against eugenics. Sadly, France holds the record for prenatal selection of human beings, illustrating our attitude towards the most vulnerable. It is scandalous that this bioethics law completely ignores these two urgent priorities. In the coming days, we will be contacting all the deputies, prior to mobilizing efforts for a massive citizen march on Sunday, October 6 in Paris, united under the common banner entitled “March for the Children!”.

Note: Three representatives from Alliance VITA were auditioned by the special commission on August 27th.

[Press Release] Bioethics: Alliance VITA Condemns Violation of Non-commodification of Human Body

[Press Release] Bioethics: Alliance VITA Condemns Violation of Non-commodification of Human Body

by | September 12, 2019 | Bioethics, ART, Bioethics Law, Press Releases

Last night in France, MP’s from the “LREM” (La République En Marche) and “Modem” (Democrat movement) parties for the special bioethics committee, voted two amendments to allow private health companies to stock gametes for assisted reproductive techniques (ART).

This complete turnaround, in contradiction to the government’s recommendation, is a serious deviation from the principle of the non-commodification of the human body.

Tugdual Derville, Alliance VITA’s General Delegate and author of « Time for Mankind-For a Revolution in Human Ecology”, published by Plon, declares:

“Just as we warned President Macron, by eliminating the medical infertility criterion for ART, France will be dragged into the reproductive market. The government asserted that it would only be “nonprofit”, but this still places human reproduction, and especially women’s bodies, under national and technocratic control. And now the majority party goes even further by opening ART without infertility criterion to the liberal market.

The truth is that large-scale autopreservation of gametes is a time bomb. Women will be pressured at an even younger age, to donate or sell their oocytes in exchange for preserving them, with the illusive promise of an advanced age pregnancy by IVF, that is known to be dangerous and unreliable (75% failure rate). The only way to protect women’s intimacy and autonomy from the invasive reproductive business is by supporting natural reproduction, by preventing infertility and by providing healthcare to restore fertility. The procreation marketplace benefits those who are wealthy to the detriment of the poor, relying on technology to make maximum profits. The very last bioethics principle France could be proud of is about to be crushed: the non-commodification of the human body. This cannot be. There is cause for revolt!”

Alliance VITA is a member of the March for the Children movement, which will march in Paris on October 6th.

Spain: 40% Fewer Babies in 11 years

Spain: 40% Fewer Babies in 11 years

by | June 20, 2019 | News

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On June 18, 2019, the official statistics published for Spain, now classify it as the European country with the lowest fertility rate. Since 2008, the number of births in Spain has fallen by 40%.

Over the past 11 years (from 2008 to 2018), Spain has reported a decline in the number of births from 519,779 to 369,302. Moreover, in 2018, 20.6% of the babies were born to mothers without Spanish nationality.

The communiqué published by the Spanish Institute of Statistics (“INE”) stated that this “is partly due to a decrease in the number of children per woman”. In fact, the fertility rate (the average number of live births per woman of childbearing age) has reached its lowest point since 2002, falling from 1.31 in 2017, to 1.25 in 2018.

These figures are to be compared with the fertility rates in the European Union and in France, which were respectively 1.59 and 1.89 for 2017. In developed countries, for the population to reproduce itself at current numbers, the “total fertility rate” needed is 2.1.

In 2018, there were 5.9% fewer marriages in Spain compared to 2017. Over the same period, the average age for maternity increased by 0.1 to 32.2 years, while in France the average age is 30.6.

The percentage of mothers aged ≥ 40 has risen sharply in Spain: 63.1% in 10 years. This trend is consistent with the overall drift towards advanced maternal age in Europe.

Spain’s current decline in birth rate has been aggravated by an earlier downturn which began during the 80’s. Since 2015, Spain has reported a “negative growth rate”, with the result that the number of deaths exceeds the number of births.

Alliance VITA’s Response to French Prime Minister

Alliance VITA’s Response to French Prime Minister

by | June 12, 2019 | Press Releases, Medically Assisted Procreation

On the eve of Father’s Day, Alliance VITA published the results of the IFOP opinion poll which clearly demonstrate that the French people are very attached to the role of the father. The overwhelming majority (91%) believe that the father plays an essential role in a child’s upbringing; 79% think that children who did not know their father are at a disadvantage; and 55% are opposed to using ART if it would deprive a child of a father.

Tugdual Derville, Alliance VITA’s General Delegate, comments:

” The revision of the bioethics law is nothing but a priority for the French (as shown by the opinion poll “The French and implementing measures after the national debate”) and yet the Prime Minister takes the risk to profoundly divide French citizens. Extending the French ART laws beyond cases of medically-diagnosed infertility would intentionally deprive children of a father, diverge medical care from its therapeutic role, and would turn the country into a sordid procreation market, incompatible with human dignity. By betraying his former convictions, the French Prime Minister, Edouard Philippe, goes even further than former president François Hollande. He is pushing us to march in the streets like the “yellow-vest” protestors, driven by the desire to protect the child from being deprived of any paternal reference point in his identity. In the long term, what do we gain by overturning French laws towards a system that changes the child into a right that is demanded and obtained, and the man into a gamete producer?

The French are very attached to the figure of paternity: the majority opposes ART which intentionally deprives children of a father. This law, which pretends to give new rights, would actually create three inequalities:

  • between children, according to whether or not they have a father;
  • between women, according to whether or not they are the “real” mother;
  • and between men and women who will inevitably demand surrogacy on the grounds of non-discriminatory provisions.

This justifies a rebellion! “

Finally France Rejects Extending Abortions to 14 Weeks

Finally France Rejects Extending Abortions to 14 Weeks

by | June 12, 2019 | Abortion, News

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On Tuesday, June 11, the French Senate rejected the amendment, which had originally been voted on June 7th  to extend the legal deadline from 12 to 14 weeks for performing abortions.

Tabled by Senator Laurence Rossignol, this amendment was initially adopted a few days earlier, without any preliminary discussion, by a surprise rising vote of 12 senators in favor vs. 10 against.

The chairman of the Social Affairs Committee, and the rapporteur, Republican Senator, Alain Milon, (both opposed to extending the legal time limit) requested a second deliberation. This is allowed under the procedural rulings, but requires the government’s agreement. French health minister Agnès Buzyn supported their request for a second deliberation, declaring: “I conscientiously and dutifully declare that the conditions for adopting the extension of the abortion period were non-satisfactory (…) since this deals with the organization of the health care system (…). This issue cannot be addressed within the scope of this text. The government thinks it is appropriate to hold a second deliberation.” 

Alain Milon asserts that “no consultations were held with members of the scientific and medical communities” prior to drafting the bill. He continues: “It is not appropriate, in these conditions and circumstances, at the end of a text treating the organization of our health care system, to decide on the legal time limits for abortion.”

This time, in the presence of a full assembly, the Senate rejected this highly controversial issue, by 205 votes in favor, 102 against and 41 abstentions.