French Catholic Hierarchy Worries Government Will Approve Surrogacy

A national ethics board has recommended the expansion of artificial insemination to all women in France. Currently only women in opposite-sex marriages with one or both partners considered medically infertile are allowed to access these healthcare services. The French bishops’ conference quickly spoke out against the decision, with Archbishop Pierre d’Ornellas stressing that expansions to “assisted procreation” would likely lead to legalizing surrogacy. Of particular concern to the conference was the possibility that male couples would be able to have children through surrogacy, a step it views as inevitable once female couples are able to use artificial insemination to have children.