Bioethics bill and MAP: towards a conclusion in the National Assembly

The National Assembly adopted the Bioethics bill for the third time on the night of Wednesday 9 to Thursday 10 June, by a vote of 84 votes for, 43 against and 3 abstentions. The text will then be examined at the end of the month by the Senate before coming back to the National Assembly one last time. 1,550 amendments had been tabled.

The bill ratifies the opening of medically assisted reproduction (MAP) to couples of women. The procedure will be reimbursed by social security. The children born of MAP will have the possibility of accessing non-identifying data of the donor when they come of age. If the donor agrees and the child wishes, the identity of the donor can be revealed.

In addition to the opening of MAP and access to origins, the bill addresses the thorny issue of the recognition of surrogate motherhood, still prohibited in France. The bill puts an end to the jurisprudence of the Court of Cassation, which since 2019 consecrated an automatic recognition of filiation for both parents, including for the parent of intention, in the case of a birth by surrogacy abroad. In the interest of the child, the Court had considered that adoption was not necessary.

Article 4 bis of the text provides that the recognition of filiation of a surrogacy made abroad be assessed in the light of French law. In other words, this provision deprives the parent of intention of an automatic recognition of filiation, which must thus go through an adoption procedure. A more restrictive mechanism than the jurisprudence of the Court of Cassation, which shows the reluctance of the current government, like its predecessors, to engage in the legalization of surrogacy.

Women’s couples will be able to “register in the MAP course from the beginning of the year”, promised Olivier Véran, Minister of Health.

By the IP/IT team of UGGC Avocats

Sources : https://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/dyn/15/dossiers/bioethique_2