The French, still in favour of gamete donation since the promulgation of the new bioethics law in August 2021
Published on 12 May 2022
Almost a year after the entry into force of the new 2021 bioethics law extending access to medically assisted procreation (MAP) to female couples and unmarried women, and following the awareness campaign launched by the Agence de la biomédecine in October 2021, the agency has conducted a new opinion barometer with the Viavoice institute to measure changes in the French public's perception of gamete donation.
The positive trend regarding the principle of gamete donation is confirmed, with 82% of respondents saying they are in favor of this type of donation. This trend is on the rise among men of donating age (18 to 44), with 85% of respondents (+3%).
In general, legislative changes in 2021 will encourage French people to donate:
- Access to origins, which enables children born of a donation to access their donor's identifying and non-identifying data, was explained during the Agence de la biomédecine's autumn 2021 campaign. This helped raise awareness of this legislative change among the French, and reinforced their opinion in favor of donation or their willingness to donate: 22% of the population consider access to origins as an additional lever to donate.
- The French also remain mobilized to donate to female couples and single women. This change in the law in no way alters their desire to donate gametes.
Moreover, these favorable opinions have been borne out in the field, since the number of male and female donors has been on the rise since the new 2021 law. According to a survey of donation centers conducted by the Agence de la biomédecine, nearly 600 men* donated sperm in 2021. This is the highest level recorded to date, the previous high being 404 donors in 2017. In addition, almost 900 women* donated their oocytes in 2021. This is also the highest level ever recorded, the previous high being 836 in 2019.
However, the new law has included many changes (opening up of AMP to all women, introduction of access to origins, fertility preservation without medical authorization, etc.). French people's knowledge of gamete donation has yet to be built up: 86% of them do not feel sufficiently informed on the subject, notably because of the diversity of issues involved. The Agence de la biomédecine's new campaign, Merci d'en parler, is designed to address this issue, and will be launched on May 16, with 3 communication initiatives: a round-table discussion with witnesses and healthcare professionals, created in collaboration with Skyrock; a podcast dedicated to gamete donation; and a dedicated page on the dondovocytes.fr and dondespermatozoïdes.fr websites. This awareness-raising campaign has been designed to generate discussion between donors, recipients, people waiting to donate, people born of a donation and people ready to donate, and to dispel the preconceived ideas that circulate about gamete donation.