This is a major verdict in the field of bioethics. The magistrates granted, Friday, October 4, to the Mennesson family what it asked since the birth of their daughters of a GPA carried out in California, where this process is legal: the transcription in French law of the birth certificates on which they appear as only father and mother.

If the recognition of the fatherhood of Dominique Mennesson, biological father, was acquired, this file raised the question of the status in French law of the "mother of intention", who desired and raised the children, but did not give birth to them. . The Court of Cassation considered that the adoption solution, enshrined in its jurisprudence, was unsatisfactory in this "specific case".

"A huge victory"

"Our children are no longer ghosts, they are our children, legally speaking," responded the father of twins to the press at the Paris courthouse.

"It's a huge victory for the Mennesson family, the end of a 19-year-old fight," said family lawyer Patrice Spinosi. "This fight is definitely and completely won (...) This will be precedent for cases identical to those of the Mennesson family," he said.

After years of judicial battles of this family, at the forefront of the fight for recognition of parentage between parents and children born abroad by surrogacy (GPA), banned in France, the Court had met on 20 September in his most solemn formation.

Until now, the jurisprudence of the Court of Cassation did not allow such a transcription of birth certificates, as regards the "mother of intention", advocating the adoption solution.

[Stop & Release] #GPA and #Filiation - to read on https://t.co/pkOoc4VcNp pic.twitter.com/vaJv7KXduj

Court of Cassation (@Courdecassation) 4 October 2019

The Court made this decision "in the absence of another way" preserving the best interests of these young women: the adoption solution is unsatisfactory, especially "in view of the time elapsed since the concretisation of the link between the children and the intended mother, "she explains in her judgment.

The government said it was "suspended" from its decision to clarify the state of the law for children born abroad to a surrogate mother.

With AFP