In this edition, we find out why France is destroying its old stock of donor sperm, despite long waiting lists for help conceiving a child through IVF and other fertility treatments. Under the nation's latest bioethics law, anonymous sperm donations are no longer allowed. We find out why and how the need for such donations has jumped.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Well it's time now for our Entre Nous segment and here in France today marks the end of
00:08an anonymous sperm and egg donations and we're joined by Solange Mugin who's going to tell
00:13us more about this. End then of an era for anonymous sperm and egg donations. Tell us
00:20more what's happening?
00:21Well today marks the deadline for basically all of the older sperm in France that was
00:25given anonymously. It'll now be trashed and thrown out as it can no longer be given to
00:30women who are on the waiting list and that waiting list is very long, a very long one.
00:34I'll explain why in a minute. These are women who are trying to get pregnant. The deadline
00:40also applies to egg donations as well but that stock was, egg donations that were given
00:46anonymously, all of that stock has been used already so it's a bit of a moot point here.
00:51But as for the sperm, there are thousands of vials that will now be binned or trashed.
00:55So why is France doing this, especially considering that this waiting list for medical help to
01:00have a child is so long? Well the move is part of a phasing out of anonymous donations
01:05in France which had been in place since the first sperm bakes were created here in 1973.
01:11And essentially the rules have changed and these new rules are now going to be applied
01:15starting now. In 2021, after much debate and protests and amendments, France passed
01:21a major piece of legislation about medically assisted reproduction. In France this is called
01:26PMA or Procréation Médicalement Assistée and that legislation allowed for a number
01:31of changes. Not only heterosexual couples but also single women and lesbian couples
01:37could now seek help through PMA, for example with IVF or in vitro treatments and also other
01:43methods medically to have a child. It also created new rules about donations, stripping
01:47the possibility of full anonymity as part of this 2021 bioethics law. This is something
01:54that de facto actually had already been happening because websites can now trace a person's
01:59DNA and quite often find out or get close to finding out who a biological parent is.
02:04As our reporters found out prior to the lifting of this anonymity through this law, actually
02:09knowing who your donor is, simply their name for example or their medical history, it can
02:13be a lifelong existential quest.
02:16It presents a constant question mark in my mind, one that's been there since my conception.
02:23I know the sperm donor is part of me, but I don't know what he passed on. The little
02:27game everyone plays with their parents is to know, hey, I take after dad in this way.
02:31The question remains unanswered for me. My father was able to transmit through his presence
02:36through nurture. But in regard to nature, what did my donor transmit?
02:41So Solange, why is this happening now and not when they passed this law?
02:45Well, this is actually the end of the transition period. France couldn't simply tell the over
02:5130 sperm banks in the country to wipe the site clean and start with new donor sperm
02:56and eggs. That would have made the waiting list skyrocket even more than it already has.
03:02Currently the average wait time for sperm is around a year and it can even be two years
03:06wait for egg donations. It depends on a number of factors, but that time waiting for a donor
03:12is incredibly difficult for people and for families.
03:15So what the government did instead is they began receiving new donations under the new
03:19law where the donors would sign documents accepting the lifting, the potential lifting
03:24of anonymity under specific guidelines. And I'll explain what they are in one second.
03:29All the while using the older stock and getting most of it through. But as of today, the use
03:35of those anonymous donations ends. And there is, of course, actually an exception to that
03:41that was made actually at the last minute. Under the law, frozen embryos were also slated
03:45to be destroyed. But a number of doctors, they expressed their outrage at this, that
03:49those embryos, they say, belong to the couples. They argued that with embryos you can't change
03:54the rules mid-course. With time ticking down, the French health body decided earlier this
03:59month that those embryos, so fertilized eggs, they would not be destroyed even if the donor
04:03was anonymous and thus will remain anonymous in most cases.
04:08And this has all created some anger on both sides because there are activists, fertility
04:13groups and people who were born through the use of a donor. Tell us about that.
04:19Well, this issue of anonymous donation is a prickly one for France, but also for many
04:25other nations because, as the European Union says in its directive on this, such questions
04:30are a balancing act of different rights. The rights of the person born from a donor to
04:34know their genetic history and heritage, the rights of the parents to raise that child
04:40with full or no disclosure about how they had the child, and then the rights also of
04:45the donor to remain removed or not from the person who has become a person. In any case,
04:52France decided, like a number of countries, to lift anonymity, but that does not mean
04:56it is a free-for-all with anything being able to happen. The new rules remain quite strict.
05:02First, as I mentioned, since September 2022, all donors now give, knowing their name, their
05:10age, where they were born, their physical characteristics, they can be given out on
05:16request by the child when they become an adult. And it is only – and this is where
05:22the strict part comes in – it is only that person who was made from the donor egg or
05:26sperm that can request the information, and they can only do so as an adult starting at
05:31the age of 18. The parents, for example, cannot make the request. Also, this is important,
05:35the person who donated has no legal obligation to respond to such a request for information
05:40or to pursue a relationship or even contact with the child-turned-adult. Legally, they
05:46do not become a parent because of this donation. And there has been a fear that lifting this
05:52anonymity would, in some way, harm the number of donations fewer people would donate.
05:58Yes, initial figures show that the lifting of anonymity actually has not created a sudden
06:04drop in donations. But France still does not have enough sperm or eggs, and this despite
06:10donation campaigns, public service announcements, and slogans. Not enough people give. People
06:16continue to travel abroad for help here in France, most notably to places like Spain
06:21and Greece. This was actually the main option for single and lesbian women prior to this
06:26bioethics law, but even today, because of long waiting lists, many people travel abroad
06:31for treatment. In France, unlike in some nations, it is illegal to receive money for donations.
06:36You can't give to a specific person either. For sperm, the basic rules are you have to
06:42be between—to give sperm, you have to be between 18 and 45, not have sexually transmitted
06:47diseases, be tested for other things. Also, one person's sperm can only be used 10 times
06:53to avoid risks that we have actually seen in previous cases in other countries of co-sanguineity.
07:01For eggs, it's even trickier because it does require hormonal treatments for the donor.
07:05But the gift is incredible. It allows people who otherwise wouldn't be able to have children
07:11to have them, and that is particularly important as there are thought to be some 3.3 million
07:17cases of infertility in France, and so it is a wonderful gift if you can give it.
07:24Really interesting. Thanks very much, Solange. Solange Mougin there with that look at the
07:30situation for sperm and egg donations here in France.