Abstract
This contribution explores an area where religion in France has always played a very important role in the various debates on bioethical issues. Among various religious groups, the Catholic Church has been the most active and outspoken presence in these debates. This study explores their implication—via several activist groups—and the influence and impact they have in two specific areas: research on embryos and the issue of surrogacy.
Translated from French by Elizabeth Hargrett, UC Berkeley.
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Notes
- 1.
Jérôme Lejeune was a French geneticist who purportedly located the gene for Trisomy 21. https://www.fondationlejeune.org/. His foundation finances both research on chromosomes and anti-abortion campaigns. It was in fact Marthe Gautier who had first made this discovery and who was rightfully recognized as such by the Inserm Ethics Committee in September 2014: https://www.la-croix.com/Actualite/France/Decouverte-de-la-trisomie-21-le-role-de-Marthe-Gautier-reconnu-2014-09-24-1211275, https://www.inserm.fr/qu-est-ce-que-l-inserm/l-ethique-a-l-inserm/saisines-et-notes-du-comite-d-ethique
- 2.
“146 médecins et chercheurs accusent la Fondation Lejeune d’entraver la recherche sur l’embryon,” Le Monde: http://www.lemonde.fr/sciences/article/2017/03/30/des-chercheurs-et-des-medecins-denoncent-des-entraves-a-la-recherche-sur-l-embryon_5102966_1650684.html
- 3.
On July 28, 2017, the French Council of State rejected five of these lawsuits. Conseil d’État, No 397413, ECLI:FR:CECHR:2017:397413.20170728, Inédit au recueil Lebon, 5ème – 4ème chambres réunies, M. Guillaume Leforestier, rapporteur, M. Nicolas Polge, rapporteur public SCP BORE, SALVE DE BRUNETON, MEGRET; SCP PIWNICA, MOLINIE, avocats: https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichJuriAdmin.do?oldAction=rechJuriAdmin&idTexte=CETATEXT000035317236&fastReqId=900899153&fastPos=1. On June 21, 2017, the Administrative Tribunal of Montreuil rejected 19 more of these lawsuits; however, the Foundation Jérôme Lejeune is appealing: http://montreuil.tribunal-administratif.fr/Actualité/Actualités-Communiques/Communique-de-presse-du-21-juin-2017
- 4.
Government of France. “Le mariage pour tous: Faire progresser l’égalité des droits.” 15 May 2017. http://www.gouvernement.fr/action/le-mariage-pour-tous
- 5.
Samuel Laurent, “Derrière la grande illusion de la ‘Manif pour tous,’” Le Monde. http://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2013/03/21/manif-pour-tous-la-grande-illusion_1850515_3224.html
- 6.
For an important discussion of the role of the Roman Catholic Church in the fabrication of the “concept” of “gender theory” and its appropriation by MPT, see Sophie van der Dussen, et al.,: Habemus Gende! Déconstruction d’une riposte religieuse, Brussels, Editions de l’Université de Bruxelles, 2015. See also Odile Fillod, “Le mariage raté du Vatican et de la science,” April 30, 2013: http://allodoxia.blog.lemonde.fr/2013/04/30/mariage-genre-vatican-science/
- 7.
Indeed, the MPT’s fifth proposal is to abolish anonymous gamete donation. Ibid., page 46.
- 8.
On this particular subject, see Merchant, Jennifer, and Karène Krief-Parizer. “A Baby’s Citizenship and Kinship Ties After Surrogate Birth: The Case in France” in Handbook of Gestational Surrogacy: International Clinical Practice & Policy Issues, ed. E. Scott Sills, Cambridge: University Press, 2016, pp. 131–139.
- 9.
“The following are the amendments to the French Civil Code that have been proposed by the MPT.” Politique de la famille et intérêt de l’enfant: 40 propositions concrètes, pages 49–50.
Article 1
Rewrite article 227–12 of the penal code as follows:
1. In the first paragraph, replace “6 months” with “5 years,” and replace the number “7500” with “150,000.”
2. In the second paragraph, replace “1 year” with “5 years,” and replace the number “15,000” with “150,000.”
3. Replace the third paragraph with the following:
“The act of mediating between a person or couple wishing to have a child, and a woman who has agreed to carry a child for them, is punishable by 5 years of imprisonment and a fine of 150,000.”
4. After the third paragraph, insert the following two sentences:
“The purchase or sale of children, whether in France or abroad, is forbidden.”
“An attempt to commit one of the offenses enumerated in this article, regardless of whether or not the act is carried out, or the act of presenting one of these offenses in a favorable light, is punishable by 5 years’ imprisonment and a fine of 100,000 euros.”
5. After the fourth paragraph, insert the following sentence:
“If any of the offenses enumerated in this article are committed abroad by a French citizen or resident, French law is applicable as an exception to the second paragraph of Article 113–6, and the provisions of the second paragraph of Article 113–8 are not applicable.”
Article 2
The Government is to submit a report to the Parliament on bills which could propose the adoption of a specific international convention on the prohibition of surrogacy or gestational surrogacy.
Article 3
Replace Article 16–7 of the Civil Code with the following sentence:
“The adoption by the parent of a child born as a result of surrogacy is prohibited, both in France and abroad.”
Article 4
After Article 47 of the Civil Code, Article 47–1, insert the following:
“Art. 47–1—No official document drawn up abroad, regardless of its legal nature, that notes, attests to, recognizes or proves parentage resulting from surrogacy, including in cases where it concerns a parent or parents of French nationality, can be transcribed into the French Civil Registry.”
“Nowhere in the French territory can a decision from any authority, or any official document (regardless of its legal nature), legally recognize surrogacy or gestational surrogacy, including in the case of foreign citizens, regardless of their nationality.”
- 10.
Publication of “La Manif pour tous,” La démocratie face au genre: http://www.lamanifpourtous.fr/comprendre/la-democratie-face-au-genre/
- 11.
Publication of (La Manif pour tous), L’idéologie du genre: http://www.lamanifpourtous.fr/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/LMPT-L-ideologie-du-genre.pdf
- 12.
“Don’t Touch Our Gender Stereotypes.” “The Theory of Gender at School”: http://www.20minutes.fr/societe/1274497-20140115-20140115-affiches-rassemblements-manif-tous-esquisse-retour
- 13.
“We Want Sex, Not Gender.” “Zero Dad, Not Possible”: http://blog.francetvinfo.fr/mariage-adoption-gay/2013/01/14/manif-pour-tous-une-demonstration-de-force-trop-millimetree.html
- 14.
“Whoever Destroys the Family Threatens Civil Peace”: http://www.brain-magazine.fr/article/page-president/17605-Les-15-pires-slogans-de-la-Manif-Pour-Tous
- 15.
“There Are No Eggs in Testicles”: http://leplus.nouvelobs.com/contribution/768440-frigide-barjot-a-l-elysee-une-redoutable-femme-politique-a-la-com-bien-huilee.html
- 16.
See, among others: Anne Fausto-Sterling, Myths of Gender: Biological Theories About Women and Men, New York, Basic Books, 1992 & Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality, New York, Basic Books, 2000; the website “Gendered Innovations” by Londa Schiebinger, http://genderedinnovations.stanford.edu/; Catherine Vidal, Cerveau, Sexe et Pouvoir, Paris, Belin, 2015 (first edition 2005), Nos cerveaux, tous pareils tous différents, Paris Belin, 2015 & “Des différences aux inégalités entre les femmes et les hommes,” ENS Lyon 2015: http://cle.ens-lyon.fr/plurilangues/hommes-et-femmes-ont-ils-le-meme-cerveau-249676.kjsp?
- 17.
For an overview of the debates between the left and the right in the National Assembly on the subject, see the documentary La sociologue et l’ourson by Etienne Chailloux and Matthias Théry, Quark Productions, 2016: https://la-sociologue-et-l-ourson.com/
- 18.
“ART, Surrogacy. Make A U-Turn”: http://jepreferelenoirleblogdejul.tumblr.com/post/45109314436/les-affiches-de-la-manif-pour-tous-d%C3%A9cryptage#.V-5eC1vIYeM
- 19.
“One Father + One Mother For Filiation”: http://jepreferelenoirleblogdejul.tumblr.com/post/45109314436/les-affiches-de-la-manif-pour-tous-d%C3%A9cryptage#.V-5eC1vIYeM
- 20.
“Farm-Raised Mothers”: http://jepreferelenoirleblogdejul.tumblr.com/post/45109314436/les-affiches-de-la-manif-pour-tous-d%C3%A9cryptage#.V-5eC1vIYeM, “I Too Want to Know Where I Come From. All of Us Are Born From a Man and a Woman”: http://jepreferelenoirleblogdejul.tumblr.com/post/45109314436/les-affiches-de-la-manif-pour-tous-d%C3%A9cryptage#.V-5eC1vIYeM. These images of “industrialized farm-raised surrogates” deliberately bring to mind dystopian fiction such as Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.
- 21.
See B. Fracciolla, op.cit.
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Merchant, J. (2020). The Role of Religion in Debates on Embryo Research and Surrogacy in France. In: Weiberg-Salzmann, M., Willems, U. (eds) Religion and Biopolitics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14580-4_3
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