“It is by prohibiting surrogacy that we encourage trafficking and parallel networks”

2022-01-07 14:10:19

In a column published on January 4 in The crossa member of a collective opposed to GPA claims that the only ethical approach in this matter would consist of “to prohibit and abolish it” car ses “modalities would not be compatible with our main principles, starting with respect for humans”. It is clear that the author does not put forward any scientific study on the subject to justify her hypothesis and that she does not relay the words of the first concerned: these women who decided for themselves to carry the child for a couple unable to procreate. Remember that they receive an embryo from the intended parents without using their own gametes and that they have already formed their own family.

→ TRIBUNE. “The only ethical approach to surrogacy is to ban and abolish it”

Far be it from us to condone any degrading routine, the economic aim of which would be based on the exploitation of the woman’s body. Let us focus on Western countries where the practice, sometimes authorized and regulated for several decades, allows us to affirm that the cries of horror heard in France are singularly far from reality. None of the countries that have regulated surrogacy have gone back through legislation.

Who could thus claim that Great Britain, Portugal, or Canada would encourage the practice of “slavery”, that they would support immoral acts whose sole purpose would be to grab an additional tenth of GDP in disregard of the human condition? Be serious. It is precisely by prohibiting surrogacy that we encourage trafficking and parallel networks, procreative stays abroad in countries with questionable practices, and even a clandestine practice in France.

Women happy with their approach

In a study published by Professor Susan Golombok in 2014, « Surrogate mothers 10 years on : a longitudinal study of psychological well-being and relationships with the parents and child », the researcher from the University of Cambridge, after following surrogate women up to ten years after giving birth, concludes that these women have a feeling which always remains positive with regard to their approach and that they maintain relationships close relationships with the intended parents well after birth. This observation echoes the experiences of our members.

Reducing GPA to a contractual commitment is to ignore the relationships that are built between all the stakeholders in the process. An ethical GPA does not last nine months but a lifetime. We do not contract a call on birthdays, a gift at Christmas, nor a surprise visit. We decide it, on both sides, with extreme kindness. We would not be able to imagine such a long-term human adventure if this approach had been judged even the slightest bit degrading. These women carriers say they are valued by their commitment.

→ ANALYSIS. GPA, revealing the paradoxes of ecologists on bioethics

And the children in all this? Since 2000, Susan Golombok has also studied the evolution of children conceived through surrogacy by visiting them at the ages of 1, 2, 3, 7, 10 and 14 years. She noticed that these children presented neither more nor less psychological disorders than children not conceived by reproductive science.

Protect stakeholders

Should we abolish the generosity of these surrogate women who decide for themselves to allow the success of someone else’s parental project or strictly regulate this practice in order to protect all stakeholders? As a reminder, GPAs in Canada or Great Britain do not include remuneration for the benefit of surrogate women. Their generosity cannot be wiped away by the financial compensation that exists in other countries. In a family, should we continue to prohibit a woman from carrying her sister’s child if the latter cannot bear a child? How can we best guarantee this freedom of choice?

→ INVESTIGATION. Embryos, investigation into global trafficking

As is often the case on societal issues, the opinion of the French is ahead of the legislator. An Ifop survey from June 2021 indicates that 66% of French people say they are in favor of authorizing surrogacy for heterosexual couples (64% for Catholics), 53% for homosexual couples (47% for Catholics). Therefore, it is not surprising that some politicians take up this subject to promote legalization of French-style surrogacy, ethical and altruistic, and that others continue to oppose it. If feminists like Élisabeth Badinter, Irène Théry or more recently Élisabeth Moreno position themselves personally for the supervision of GPA, it seems necessary that at the very least, a calm and peaceful debate can be included in the political agenda.