6th follow-up committee on the implementation of the bioethics law: The French are overwhelmingly in favour of gamete donation
Published on 13 June 2023
Monday June 12, 2023 saw the 6th
meeting of the national committee for monitoring the implementation of the 2021 bioethics law in the field of medically assisted procreation (MAP). Set up by the Agence de la biomédecine, at the request of the Minister of Health and Prevention, the national monitoring committee brings together all stakeholders* several times a year to monitor developments, listen to concerns in the field and identify difficulties that could give rise to improvement measures. On this occasion, the Agence de la biomédecine presented the results of its latest opinion survey on how the French perceive gamete donation, as well as the results of collaborative work with stakeholders on gamete stock management.
The law of August 2, 2021 on bioethics changed the legal framework for medically assisted procreation (MAP) [also known as medically assisted procreation (MAP)], extending access to female couples and unmarried women. As part of its awareness and information campaign, the Agence de la biomédecine (French Biomedicine Agency) has carried out a new edition of its opinion barometer to measure the progress of perceptions on the subject.
The vast majority of French people are in favor of gamete donation, with 86% indicating their support. This opinion is growing stronger, with an increase of 4 points compared to 2022. Among French people in favor of gamete donation, half say they are ready to donate.
The significant increase in the number of donations observed over the past 2 years is based on key factors that encourage people to donate:
- Enabling access to parenthood for couples on the waiting list, at 52%,
- including female couples and single women (31%).
The main obstacles to donation remain the same as in 2022. For example, the fact that the identity of the donor could be known by the person born of a donation at the time of their majority, would encourage a stable proportion of 35% of men surveyed not to donate their gametes. A second obstacle mentioned by women is the medical procedure and the method of oocyte retrieval.
The younger generation ready to get involved
Among those in favor of gamete donation, 48% are ready to donate sperm or oocytes. In detail, the intention to donate is increasing among the youngest age groups. Thus, 62% of 18-24 year-olds say they are "ready" to donate (+9 points compared to 2022).
Beyond this strong intention, young people (18-34) also feel more concerned by the subject than the average (+10 points compared to the French as a whole).
Among all those who feel concerned by gamete donation, two key factors are highlighted by respondents:
- 40% mention someone close to them and/or say they themselves have been affected by the subject of gamete donation,
- Solidarity and empathy were cited by 28% of respondents.
Work in progress on the management of gamete stocks to enable future children born from gamete donation to have access to their origins.
At the request of the Minister Delegate for Territorial Organization and Health Professions, and as part of the law's national monitoring committee, the Agence de la biomédecine has set up a working group since March 6, 2023 to work on gamete stock management and make the law's article on access to origins effective for future unborn children.
Since September1
, 2022, donation centers have been building up new stocks of gametes thanks to donors who agree to give access to their identifying or non-identifying information to the children born from their donation. However, while this new stock is being built up and in order to minimize the destruction of former donor gametes (113,000 sperm straws available by the end of 2022), donation centers continue to allocate so-called "former donor" straws to people undergoing MAP.
Three meetings of this working group brought together the various stakeholders (patient associations, center doctors, learned societies). As a result of this work, at the June 12 meeting of the follow-up committee, the Agence de la biomédecine proposed several scenarios to the Ministry, presenting different possible dates from which only the gametes of third-party donors who have consented to access to origins will be delivered. These scenarios, along with their respective advantages and disadvantages, were drawn up in consultation with the Ministry on the basis of data collected from each donation center, including :
- MPA techniques used (IVF, artificial insemination),
- the number of straws used per trial and per technique,
- evaluated success rates,
- the size of the old gamete stock,
- the dynamics of building up the new gamete stock,
- and the number of requests expected in the coming months.
In line with its commitments, the Ministry will set a date in the coming weeks for the destruction of old gamete stocks and the exclusive use of newly-formed gamete stocks, respecting two principles: to make the right of access to origins fully effective as soon as possible, without creating difficulties for the centers by setting too early a deadline.
*This barometer was carried out by the Viavoice Institute for the Agence de la biomédecine, by telephone between February 13 and 27, 2023, among a sample of 1016 people, representative of the French population aged 18 and over.
Press contacts:
Agence TBWA\Corporate Léa Morales - lea.morales@tbwa-corporate.com - 06 30 69 50 16 Estelle Agnel - Estelle.agniel@tbwa-corporate.com - 06 07 46 34 09
Agence de la biomédecine Hélène Duguet - presse@biomedecine.fr - 06 16 35 91 80