The self-preservation of oocytes and spermatozoa disappears from the bioethics bill in the Senate. The article authorizing this practice has been deleted by senators, but it will be possible to reintroduce it in the National Assembly.
While at first, amendments to delete the article had been rejected by senators, the vote on the article at the end of its examination gave a tie vote "for" and "against", meaning his rejection. 119 senators voted for the adoption of the article, and 119 against, on 313 voters.
Negative opinion for senators' article
The Secretary of State for Child Protection, Adrien Taquet, issued on behalf of the government an opinion against the adoption of Article 2, in its form rewritten by senators, announcing his desire to reintroduce it in the National Assembly. The government had in particular opposed a provision introduced by senators, namely the authorization for lucrative private health establishments to practice gamete donation.
The senators had also returned the framing of the age limits for the practice of the procedure to the appreciation of the medical teams, whereas the executive preferred to fix them by decree in Council of State. The result of the vote, with a large number of abstentions (75), appears as a conjunction of different "red lines" asked by each other.
The mirage of "pregnancy insurance"
Alone, the socialists overwhelmingly voted for, Yves Daudigny emphasizing a measure of "justice". The majority of the LR senators voted against (83 out of 144), after expressing concerns, through Stéphane Piednoir's voice, on the "freedom" of women, or the "social pressure" of employers to which they could be subjected. His colleague, Philippe Bas, warned him against the mirage of "pregnancy insurance by saving oocytes". The RDSE group, with a radical majority, voted against it because it was opposed to opening up to the private sector, Véronique Guillotin explained to AFP.
For the same reason, the CRCE group with a communist majority abstained, with the exception of the ecologist Esther Benbassa who voted for it. The LREM group also abstained. The centrist Loïc Hervé pleaded to “keep the law in place”, putting forward reservations on the consequences that the measure would have on “women's careers”.
Marie-Pierre de La Gontrie (PS) laughed at the "lucidity" of her colleagues on the pressure exerted by employers on women in relation to their desire for children, while recalling that the pressure for them was "total". Keeping your gametes to carry out a future pregnancy is today very well regulated and authorized for medical reasons (cancer, endometriosis, etc.). Apart from these situations, it is not allowed to freeze them for later use, when fertility drops (after 35 years).
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