Le Monde implies that François Hollande has put the question of ART for lesbians on the back burner, tying it up in committees to avoid ideological rifts in his own party undermining the less divisive issue of gay marriage, but confusion reigns.
Article source: “Aide à la procréation pour les lesbiennes : le calendrier impossible de l'exécutif”, Hélène Bekmezian, Laetitia Clavreul and Thomas Wieder, Le Monde, 26th January 2013, updated 28th January 2013
Despite the French government's promise on January 25th that the gay marriage and parenting bill, scheduled to be presented to cabinet on March 27th, would give lesbian couples access to assisted reproductive technology (ART), the future of ART remains uncertain after François Hollande informed the National Union of Family Associations (UNAF) that he intended to refer the matter to the French National Consultative Ethics Committee (CCNE).
With the submission of the bill only two months away, success on all fronts seems impossible for the government. The CCNE advisory board will certainly be hard-pressed to deliver its verdict so quickly, given that the three-month deadline set by the president last December for the committee to voice its opinion on euthanasia already seems short. For the time being, the government has carefully avoided providing a specific date for the parliamentary debate. The Prime Minister's office only said: “the more things we can get up and running before summer, the better.”
During a general assembly the previous day, the CCNE had actually already taken it upon itself to look into the matter in all its aspects, including not only the question of ART for homosexuals but also issues such as the anonymity of gamete donors and oocyte vitrification (freezing women's eggs with a view to using them later in life). A national convention on the subject will be organised. While the 2011 revision of the law on bioethics may not compel the president to refer the matter to the committee, it does require the CCNE to organise a public debate for “all reform bills dealing with ethical and societal issues raised by advances in biology, medicine and health.”
Along with the 75 percent tax rate and the right of foreigners to vote, ART is yet another irksome sticking point for the government. After being left out of the “Marriage for All” bill as early as September 2012, the issue of assisted reproduction resurfaced in December in the form of an amendment proposed by socialist députés. It was then excluded once more in a last-minute exchange for the government's commitment on the gay marriage and parenting bill.
Aside from the ethical, social and economic questions raised by lesbian access to ART, the issue is also an ongoing source of political tension: left-wing politicians may (nearly) all be in agreement when it comes to gay marriage and adoption, but they are divided on the issue of assisted reproduction. When this debate ends—the end of April at the earliest—will the government be ready to start another social debate on an issue that is twice as sensitive?
RADICAL OPPOSITION
Basically, “it’s a bit like being stuck in quicksand”, is how a socialist député sums up the situation, wondering “after all, who actually wants ART?” It’s true that it was not one of Hollande’s sixty manifesto commitments (although he did promise to give homosexuals access to ART in a written reply to gay magazine Têtu). The government, meanwhile, is split on the issue. Junior Minister for Family, Dominique Bertinotti, Social Affairs and Health Minister, Marisol Touraine, and Women’s Rights Minister, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem are in favour. Interior Minister, Manuel Valls said on January 20th, however, that if he were a député he would oppose the legislation.
A president whose real intentions are hard to decipher, a divided government, an ever more radical opposition, an ethics committee which has taken the issue up of its own volition, giving no indication as to when it might deliver its verdict or what the government would do if it opposed ART... As things stand, it’s hard to see how the bill on gay marriage and parenthood could be presented to cabinet in less than two months. All the more so as neither the Prime Minister nor the ministries concerned by the bill are able to say precisely what issues it will deal with, further adding to the prevailing confusion.
Translation: Adrien Martel and Charles Eddy
Editing: Sam Trainor