Surrogacy Under French Law: Ethical, Medical, and Legal Issues

Abstract

Surrogacy is the situation when a woman, known as the surrogate mother, carries and delivers a baby for a person or couple, known as the commissioning parent(s). For the commissioning parent(s), the main reason to have access to this practice is generally because they are unable to conceive and bear their own child due to medical reasons. Regarding the surrogate mother, her decision can be grouped together under the headings of wishing to enable parenthood, to feel self-actualized, to enhance her identity, or to be driven by a feeling of empathy or financial gains. No matter the reasons for both parties, surrogacy raises a lot of public concerns. In France, surrogacy has been against the law since 1994. Its prohibition is justified by two principles of public policy. On the one hand, there is the principle of inviolability of the human body which means that no part of it can be treated like a property. On the second hand, there is the principle of nonavailability of people’s status which implies that the intended parents and the surrogate mother cannot, by their single individual decision, choose the status of the unborn child. Next to these two principles lie medical, ethical, and legal issues.

This chapter analyzes French law regarding surrogacy and surrogacy’s consequences examining the medical, ethical, and legal aspects.

My special thanks goes to Renaud LUNARDO, a former colleague, for his invaluable support and kindness from September to December 2011.