"We are preparing a circular to clarify the state of the law for children born abroad of a surrogacy and streamline the procedures of parents.We are suspended for this to a decision of the Court of Cassation, which had itself seized the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), "said Tuesday at the Ministry of Justice.
The debate resurfaced on Tuesday, after Franceinfo said that the government would decide to "recognize the parentage of children born to a GPA abroad." Today, according to French law, the mother is the one who gives birth. The spouse of the biological father and the "mother of intent" of the child born of a GPA must therefore apply for adoption to be recognized as the mother in the civil registry. The same logic applies to the "father of intent" in the case of a gay couple.
Many couples are fighting for recognition of their parentage with their GPA-born children abroad. The most emblematic among them, the Mennessons, who have been fighting for 18 years, have taken their case to the Court of Cassation, which itself has submitted the ECHR for its opinion. In its decision of 20 April, the ECHR enshrined the right to the descent of the "mother of intent" while leaving the States free to choose the means of this recognition.
"We would be happy but a circular is precarious"
In the absence of a "European consensus", the ECHR states that states have a "margin of appreciation", the recognition of the link can be done for example by transcription on the registers of the civil status of the act legally established in abroad - what the Mennesson couple want - or via "the adoption of the child by the mother of intent", which is already proposed by French law.
"We will take into account what will say the Court of Cassation, which sought this opinion of the ECHR, to write this circular," said the Ministry of Justice. The next hearing of the Court of Cassation on the case Mennesson is set for September 20, the decision may occur in the following days or weeks.
Everything is therefore theoretically possible: the status quo as the full recognition of the principle of filiation of the "mother of intent", up to registration in the register of civil status. Radical, this last option would seem, however, quite foreign to the uses and practices of the high court.
"We would be happy (to see fully recognized the principle of filiation, ed) of course, but a circular is precarious, it can be revoked any time." Amendments have been tabled in this regard in the context of the draft law. In order to stabilize the situation of children over time, this seems to us to be a more appropriate framework, "Sylvie Mennesson, the" mother of intent "of GPA-born twin girls in the United States, told AFP.