A final legislative round closely scrutinized by associations

“We have been waiting for nine years, we will have to close the subject”, declares Mariama Soiby, member of the association’s office. Mam’enSolo. The PMA for all, commitment of Emmanuel Macron, took a long time to see the light of day. But we should approach the last chapter of this saga this Monday, with the third reading of the
Bill on Bioethics to the Assembly. A last round awaited with impatience and vigilance by the associations.

A promise kept?

The government and Olivier Véran have undertaken to ensure that the text
be promulgated this summer, provided that the two chambers find a compromise. But the Senate rejected in February the extension of the assisted reproduction to couples of women and to singles, from where a big risk of disagreement. In this case, the Assembly will have the last word. And the final vote could be held on July 5, according to our information.

For Jean-Louis Touraine, LREM deputy who has carried the text for years, there is no doubt: PMA for all will become reality this summer. “It’s a great stage and we know there will be others,” he says. Previous bioethics laws have essentially been laws of prohibitions. Now we are opening doors. Traditionalists say it is too much, progressives not enough. “France will finally enter the 21st century!”, For her part, welcomes Mariama, from Mam’enSolo. But it is necessary to see the precise conditions of the text voted to know if this right will be effective and applicable for all. “

This is where some associations call for vigilance. “We have been asking for access to assisted reproduction for a long time, so hurrying up is a good thing, but this text retains amendments that mark discrimination”, summarizes Nicolas Saget, spokesperson for L ‘Association of gay and lesbian parents and future parents (APGL).

Little risk for repayment

First concern: will this access be fully reimbursed? “If the assisted reproduction became legal in France, but without reimbursement by the Health Insurance, its access for the most modest would be limited by their financial constraints”, insists, in a press release, the group of carers favorable to the assisted reproduction for all.

But according to our information, this risk is zero. “Some argue that it is not a therapeutic activity,” emphasizes Jean-Louis Touraine. But Social Security pays for things other than care: prevention, smoking cessation, screening, vaccines, abortion and assisted reproduction for heterosexual couples who are not sterile. In addition, for women who go abroad for their assisted reproduction, the preliminary examinations and the follow-up of the pregnancy are already done in France, so the additional cost will be modest. “

“If it is voted without reimbursement, there will be recourse to the Council of State and to the Constitutional Council, because that would create new discrimination”, warns Nicolas Saget for his part.

But still discrimination …

What worries associations more is the question of parentage. If the text remains as it is, a lesbian couple will not have the same rights as heterosexuals. “The law would impose an” anticipated common recognition “, which requires going before the notary before the conception of the child, explains Nicolas Saget. And the inscription “born by PMA” on the birth certificate of the child, who asked for nothing ”. “It was the least bad of the solutions”, justifies Jean-Louis Touraine. What the APGL is asking for is to integrate lesbian women into common law. That is to say that “if they are married, they are automatically parents, insists Nicolas Saget. Otherwise, the spouse who does not give birth can recognize the child. “

The deputy believes that other advances could have been included in this text… This opening would put an end to discrimination between heterosexual couples and lesbians, but not for trans women. “On post-mortem assisted reproduction, I find it difficult to exclude widows from the moment when single women are granted the right to undergo assisted reproduction,” adds Jean-Louis Touraine. I had made an amendment to propose that they could use the frozen embryo six months after death, so as not to be in the mourning phase. I think this lock will jump in a few years. “

The other lost battle, for lesbian couples, concerns Partner Oocyte Reception (ROPA). Concretely, one of the mothers performs ovarian stimulation and the other carries the fetus in her uterus. Jean-Louis Touraine fought to reinstate this possibility, but the executive remains against.

The waste of precious time

It is an understatement to say that if the text is really promulgated this summer, some women will be able to breathe. But a decade of discussions and demonstrations is a long time. Especially when we talk about the biological clock… Blame it on the health crisis? “We put a lot of things on the back of the Covid-19, criticizes Mariama Soiby. But obviously the government procrastinated! Some (other) texts have gone through an accelerated procedure. And within a year, women can see their dreams come crashing down. “

“We are late, admits Jean-Louis Touraine. The previous revisions had taken some too. There were the States General on bioethics, parliamentary shuttles, the “yellow vests” crisis and the health crisis. Many thought that PMA for all would be included in the law on marriage for all, passed in 2013. This has happened in many countries. Access was given to adoption, but not to procreation. We will correct this absurdity with this law. “

Mariama, she did not wait. It was in Denmark that she conceived her daughter six years ago. “I dream, I contribute, I eat French. But in my country, it is considered that my desire is not legitimate. It’s still a shame to have the impression of transgressing the rules laid down by men in order to be able to found a family. Between Hollande’s first promise and today, many children have been born. Still happy. “