France will soon have a new bioethics law. After months of debate, by a vote of 170 to 157, the Senate approved a bill which offers something for each side of the debate.

France will soon have a new bioethics law. After
months of debate, by a vote of 170 to 157, the Senate approved a bill which
offers something for each side of the debate.

Anonymous sperm donation will be allowed. Posthumous
reproduction is banned. Surrogate motherhood is banned. Research on embryos and
embryonic stem cells is permitted in exceptional cases, subject to approval by
the “Agence de biomédecine.” Researchers
may use only surplus embryos from IVF treatment.

Organ donors have to have had a strong
emotional attachment to the recipient for at least two years. Doctors will have
to inform pregnant women of tests for prenatal defects.

IVF is permitted for any couple which
suffers from real infertility, not social infertility. Hence – to the disgust
of many deputies, homosexual couples have been banned from creating IVF
children. One left-wing deputy described the law as “regressive and even
dangerous”. The law is to be revised at least every seven years. ~ Genethique,
June 24, AFP,
June 23

Michael Cook
France
regulation

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Michael Cook

Michael Cook edits BioEdge, a bioethics newsletter, and MercatorNet, an on-line magazine whose focus is human dignity. He writes from Sydney, Australia.

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