"We, doctors, recognize having helped, accompanied some couples or single women in their project of child whose realization is not possible in France . Clearly: homosexual women and singles while the law allows medical assistance to procreation only for heterosexual couples. In a forum published in Le Monde dated March 18, 2016, 130 doctors admit to having "outlawed" by helping women to become pregnant. In this forum, they highlight especially the "inconsistencies" of the law that penalize all women who have a desire for a child and difficulties to start a pregnancy. Decryption with Professor Philippe Descamps, head of the mother-child pole at the University Hospital of Angers, signatory of the forum and author of Doctor, I still have a question ... (Larousse edition).
- Oocyte donation: too restrictive in France
Currently, a woman who does not secrete enough egg (for medical reasons or because of her age - the decline in ovarian reserve begins at age 35 ...) can use an egg donation . But for lack of available eggs, most women go to Spain where they "buy" oocytes that are sown and transferred to them. Why is it easier in Spain ? Because there the donors are paid. In France donors are few.
What PMA specialists demand : Doctors and other reproductive specialists do not call for donor compensation, but regional information campaigns, closer to women, rather than distant national campaigns to raise awareness about donation .
- When is the freezing of its own eggs?
At the end of 2015, a decree finally authorized women who had no children and who would give their oocytes to keep some for themselves. This option is also offered to women who will undergo treatment that may leave them sterile (a treatment against cancer for example). Others ? They go abroad and pay oocyte banks that keep their ova cool. Simply because if you do not have a man with whom to start a family in your life at age 35, you can have it at 42 years old and at that moment resort to your own oocytes also makes it possible to compensate for the shortage donors (see above).
What the specialists of the PMA ask : we should today allow all women to freeze their eggs as is done in England, Belgium, Spain .... Why? When one gives or when one keeps for oneself one does not have the same quantity of available oocytes. But the better there is. Hence the interest of authorizing oocyte self-preservation , by framing the practice, specify the pros of infertility.
- And genetic analysis of embryos before implantation?
Except in France, embryos are implanted in the uterus as is. But "in general, 60% of implanted embryos have genetic abnormalities, " say the doctors in the forum on the PMA . This leads to miscarriages or malformations.
What the specialists of the PMA require : the generalization of PGD (pre-implantation diagnosis) already offered to families with high risk of genetic diseases (mucovidosis, Myotonia of Steiner, etc.). As part of the treatment against infertility, analyze these embryos before transfer into the uterus, likely to reduce the number of false hopes of women who have just had an embryo implantation. Especially since the antenatal screening offered to all pregnant women a few weeks later (at the end of the first trimester) may reveal malformations and sometimes lead to termination of pregnancy.
