Judging the situation in France regarding children born through surrogacy to be “intolerable”, EDSR[1] senators have just filed a draft bill authorising French birth certificates to be issued for children born abroad through surrogacy.
The single article in this draft bill states that, “When the child’s civil status has been established by a foreign authority in accordance with a court decision following a surrogacy protocol, this civil status is recorded uncontested in the French registers provided that the court decision is consistent with applicable local laws, the voluntary informed consent of the woman who bore the child is recognised by this decision and that any options to appeal against this decision are exhausted”.
This draft bill, if adopted, would justify de facto the “right to a child” and decriminalise the all too easy violation of French law by the intended parents when it comes to surrogacy. This catch-all article wittingly blurs the child’s parentage. It makes no distinction between parents and donors… : what birth certificate should be issued for a child born to a surrogate mother with the gametes of his/her own parents, or a child born through sperm and/or egg donation or a child delivered to two fathers? Where does the surrogate mother stand in all of this?
[1] European Democratic and Social Rally.