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“It’s not enough to want a child, because there’s more to it than paying 400 euros to conceive”
Jean-Christophe Parisot, Ministerial Delegate for Employment and the Integration of Individuals with Disabilities, has published an article in French newspaper Le Monde in which he explains that decision 129 of the French National Consultative Ethics Committee...
Medically Assisted Reproduction: Illegal insemination in France
Although illegal, doctors are already offering patients the option to undergo artificial insemination. Sarah is gay and has an 8-year-old son, conceived through medically assisted fertilisation. She recounts how her gynaecologist "treated her like any other...
The Vatican presents its white paper on palliative care
Yesterday, the Pontifical Academy for Life[1] presented a document entitled "A new palliative care culture: a white paper presented as a working document". These are the initial findings of a project entitled Pal-Life (Palliative Life), created in 2017. This "White...
216,700 abortions in 2017: High time for a prevention policy?
According to the figures[1] that have just been published by DREES[2], confirming 216,700 abortions in 2017 compared to 216,061 in 2016[3], the number of abortions carried out over the period is relatively stable. Statistics have not reached the 2015 level when...
Carmat artificial heart: eleventh patient implanted
A male patient has just undergone successful heart transplant surgery five months after receiving a Carmat artificial heart. Surgery was performed at the National Research Center of Cardiac Surgery in Astana, Kazakhstan. This is the second patient to undergo this type...
Dr Rochambeau: “I agree to fight for those doctors who show consideration for the start of life”
In the wake of the controversy he has unleashed, Dr Rochambeau is worried about challenges to the conscience clause of doctors who refuse to perform abortions: "Since 2013", explains the doctor, "we have been receiving more and more requests— especially from family...
Charlie Gard amendment presented to the British Parliament
On 4 September, Lord James Mackay introduced an amendment based on a proposal drafted in the aftermath of the Charlie Gard case. The purpose of this proposal is to spare parents from clashes between families and doctors. The amendment proposed by Lord Mackay,...
Freezing of eggs in England: + 460% since 2010
According to the HFEA[1], since 2010, there has been a 460% increase in the number of women wishing to freeze their eggs. The HFEA even advises women to do this before the age of 35. In 2016, 19% of these procedures were financed by the NHS on medical grounds...
Conscience clause: abortion – far from trivial for the woman undergoing the procedure and the gynaecologist performing it
After Bailleul de la Flèche (see Sarthe - hospital centre no longer performs abortions), at Fougères Hospital, access to abortion has been limited since the retirement of a gynaecologist. Four to five surgical abortions were performed every month on average compared...
Ireland: abortion legislation enacted
On Tuesday evening, the President of Ireland enacted the constitutional law legalising abortion in Ireland. He signed "the thirty-sixth amendment of the constitutional bill which consequently became law", thereby repealing the 8th Amendment which has recognised an...
In Egypt – new conviction for organ trafficking
In Egypt, nine people were sentenced on Tuesday by the Cairo Criminal Court with prison sentences of up to 10 years "for their involvement in human organ trafficking". They were charged with organised crime and the illegal trafficking and transplantation of organs....
New surrogacy conference in Brussels
"Men having babies", or the baby exhibition (parenting conference) organised with catalogues of surrogate mothers, womb hire and child trafficking is taking place for the fourth time in Brussels, on 22 and 23 September 2018. The organisation presents its suppliers,...