Question 17244 — bioethics

Summary

Mr. Hadrien Clouet draws the attention of the Minister of Health, Families, Autonomy and Persons with Disabilities to the bioethical crisis affecting medically assisted procreation (AMP): the increase in the importation of gametes abroad transforms the human body into a commodity, the commercial criteria of which open up eugenic perspectives. In France, ART, in particular gamete donation, is regulated by the bioethics law and is based on principles of free, anonymity, informed consent and non-commodification of the human body. At the same time, the importation of gametes from abroad is regulated and requires authorization on a case-by-case basis by the Biomedicine Agency (ABM). Recently, the ABM has authorized imports of gametes from donors recruited by foreign sperm banks (Portugal, Denmark). This trend has been increasing for two years: 17 donations in 2024, 97 in 2025 and 50 for the first quarter of 2026. These donations from abroad contravene French rules for gamete donation and introduce inequity in medically assisted procreation care on French territory. In fact, donors from the main Danish banks are paid for their donation and are selected by the recipients based on discriminatory criteria. For example, the Donnor Network bank requires donors to have an IQ above 80 and a clean criminal record. In addition, donor profiles now include detailed information on their personality, their field of study, their ethnic origin, or even their height or eye color. Recipients then choose their donor from a catalog and the price paid varies depending on “premium” or “ordinary” qualities. of the donor: the “price” of a standard donor oscillates between 400 and 500 euros when the prices of “exclusive” glitter (high-level sportsman, artists, specific physical traits) can reach 1,200 euros. However, it is provided by article 511-9 of the penal code that “obtaining gametes against payment [...] is punishable by five years of imprisonment and a fine of 75,000 euros”. This discriminatory tendency and Eugenics contravenes a set of fundamental rules of French law. Firstly, the principle of equality expressed by article 1 of the Constitution and article 1 of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen provides that individuals are born equal in rights. Where does equality between individuals lie, if it is predetermined that a child will be born with certain characteristics chosen by its parents? Likewise, access to gametes by recipients with means leads to a discriminatory situation in the care of women on the national territory. It is also an obstacle to the right to private and family life (article 8 ECHR) for couples who cannot afford to pay for “premium” glitter. The use of Danish banks also contravenes the principle of human dignity and non-commodification of the human body (articles 16-1 and 16-5 civil code), founding principles of French bioethics law. Paying donors based on non-medical criteria (IQ, appearance, socio-professional category) constitutes a commodification of the human body, prohibited by bioethics law. Finally, any eugenic practice tending to organize the selection of people is prohibited by article 16-4 of the civil code. Finally, Directive 2004/23/EC governing the donation, obtaining, control, transformation, conservation and distribution of human tissues and cells (including gametes) within the EU itself allows, in Article 4 § 2, “[a] Member State to maintain or introduce stricter protection measures”, a possibility enshrined in Article 168 § 4 of the TFEU. Therefore, it is worrying that the Government is not following the advice of the National Academy of Medicine which, for all the reasons cited, recommends prohibiting the importation of gametes from foreign banks. Thus, he asks her what measures she intends to implement in order to prevent the establishment of such a eugenics market which violates the fundamental rights of individuals. When will she contact the public prosecutor's office to initiate proceedings under article 113-2 of the penal code, providing that an offense is deemed to have been committed in France as soon as that only one of its constituent events took place on French territory, namely the remuneration of intermediaries? When will France take the initiative to harmonize continental legislation in the Council of the European Union, in order to achieve a common regulation, rather than the current abstruse directive? When will it revise the ABM data which itself minimizes the extent of the phenomenon by describing it as marginal, while the statistics for monitoring MPAs “by way of derogation” explode? How does it intend to increase the number of French donors, through a recruitment campaign in this area? Finally, he wants to know how the Government intends to tackle the structural shortage of French donors which fuels this circumvention.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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