Compass Futures: IVF Now Accessible to Single Women & Lesbians in France

France plans on implementing new legislation that will allow single women and lesbian couples to have greater access to IVF services. (Flickr)

France’s Senate voted in favor of a bioethics bill last week that would allow single women and lesbian couples the same access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) services as heterosexual couples. The law supports President Emmanuel Macron’s campaign promise to loosen laws regarding medically assisted pregnancies. Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets before the Senate’s decision. A popular slogan for the protesters was that every child should have a mother and father.

What is IVF?       

IVF procedures were previously limited to heterosexual couples who faced diagnosed infertility or a need to prevent the transmission of a disease to the child. France had some of the strictest laws on IVF procedures, while other countries such as Britain, Belgium, Spain, and the U.S. are more lenient. Lower-house lawmakers approved the bill in 2019, but there have been several major amendments, including the elimination of an article that would have allowed IVF treatment to be paid for by French social security.

The procedure for IVF involves retrieving eggs and using sperm to fertilize them in a lab setting, then moving the fertilized egg, or embryo, into the mother’s uterus. Many women opt to have more than one embryo implanted in order to increase the chances of having a healthy baby.

What Are the Implications?       

Some raise concerns about other implications of the IVF procedure, such as the procedure of preimplantation diagnosis. This means that prior to implantation, doctors analyze embryos to ensure that they will be free from an illness. In 2004, a bioethics law allowed the experimental use of preimplantation diagnosis for the conception of children whose stem cells from their umbilical cords could help save their siblings suffering from an illness. This process is widely controversial, as many people believe that it is wrong to screen and select a suitable baby. 

Another issue that protesters bring up is surrogacy, which is illegal in France. In fact, when French people have a child abroad through a surrogate, the birth is usually not recorded in the French register. Although it is unlikely for surrogacy to become legal in France, the new bioethics bill has opened up many conversations on how the moral implications of science can interfere with childbirth.