This law is a disaster for the family; in the beginning of August the National Assembly of France approved of a new bioethics law. For months numerous French people and organisations had been protesting against it, because it is aimed directly at natural parenthood.
The new law offers all women in France under 43 years of age the right to IVF as a benefit from the health insurance system, including single women and lesbian couples. Previously, IVF was only available to heterosexual couples, if they could prove to be infertile.
A push to legalise surrogacy in France
Furthermore social egg freezing and egg and sperm donation will be generally allowed for hetero- and homosexual couples, who wish to have children. Therefore it will be possible for children to have up to four parents, two genetic and two social parents. Even though surrogacy is still prohibited in France, the door to legalisation is now wide open.
Last, but not least the law introduces new rules for embryo research. The production of human-animal chimeras should be allowed as well as using the genome editing procedure CRISPR/Cas9 to change the embryonic germ line.
Undermining the social order
This law is no trivial matter. It directly attacks human nature. It tramples the best interests of the child and undermines the family and social order. Therefore there has been much criticism of this law all over Europe.
Susanne Kummer of the Institute for Medical Anthropology and Bioethics (IMABE) in Austria explains: “When children are created from foreign eggs and sperm cells, a lot is imposed on them. They grow up in a family no man’s land. One pretends that the body is only raw material. But the question of where we come from is part of our identity.”
Sophia Kuby of ADF International warns: “The child becomes the object of boundless parental desires, the object of legal arbitrariness, the object of political fantasy, and last but not least, the object of a multi-billion dollar, thriving reproductive market.”
Huge pro-family protests
In France itself there have been huge protests against this law in the last few months. Several times the pro family NGO “La Manif Pour Tous” organized manifestations and street activism with hundreds of thousand participants. Also many Catholic bishops, Evangelicals and pro-life organisations have publicly opposed the law.
Unfortunately so far the critics have not been able to change the government’s mind. For president Emmanuel Macron the issue has been important since the start of his mandate. In an internal paper of Macrons party “La Republique en Marche”, which was published by the French media, reveals that the law is about a “new philosophy of parenthood”. In future parenthood should not be determined by biological factors, but parental love. Jean-Louis Touraine, a medical teacher and member of the National Assembly for Macrons party, even pointed out: “A child has no right to a father.“
However, a final vote in the French Senate is still missing for the final adoption of the law. Although there is not much hope left, the resistance of the pro-life and pro-family organisations will continue. This law in France should be a warning sign for all pro-life and pro-family forces in Europe and the Western world.
About The Contributor
