Surrogacy is surrogacy. Clearly, the couple who wants a child uses a surrogate mother to achieve this. This can be motivated by several reasons:for example if the woman does not have a uterus or if it is malformed, which prevents her from bearing a child. In this case, one of her eggs is taken, which is fertilized with the sperm of her partner (in vitro fertilization), then implanted in the body of another woman who will carry the pregnancy to term. For the surrogate mother, the child is therefore not genetically hers since she does not donate her oocytes, but, in a way, lends her uterus. Surrogacy can also be practiced in the same way in a couple made up of two homosexual men. The sperm fertilize an egg from a donor and then the embryo is implanted in the uterus of the surrogate mother to give birth to the baby.
At present, surrogacy (in other words the use of a surrogate mother) is prohibited in France. The Penal Code punishes offenders with six months in prison and a fine of €7,500. But the debate is ongoing, especially since that of marriage for all. In the meantime, some couples who wish to use this technique go to foreign countries where it is authorized, such as India, Ukraine, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa... So far, the status of these children born abroad and then repatriated to France remained very vague. At the end of 2014, the Taubira circular clarified this case, asking the courts to grant French nationality to children born to a foreign surrogate mother. Despite this progress, surrogacy remains prohibited in France.
