00:00Well it's time now for our Entre Nous segment and here in France today marks the end of
00:08an anonymous sperm and egg donations and we're joined by Solange Mugin who's going to tell
00:13us more about this. End then of an era for anonymous sperm and egg donations. Tell us
00:20more what's happening?
00:21Well today marks the deadline for basically all of the older sperm in France that was
00:25given anonymously. It'll now be trashed and thrown out as it can no longer be given to
00:30women who are on the waiting list and that waiting list is very long, a very long one.
00:34I'll explain why in a minute. These are women who are trying to get pregnant. The deadline
00:40also applies to egg donations as well but that stock was, egg donations that were given
00:46anonymously, all of that stock has been used already so it's a bit of a moot point here.
00:51But as for the sperm, there are thousands of vials that will now be binned or trashed.
00:55So why is France doing this, especially considering that this waiting list for medical help to
01:00have a child is so long? Well the move is part of a phasing out of anonymous donations
01:05in France which had been in place since the first sperm bakes were created here in 1973.
01:11And essentially the rules have changed and these new rules are now going to be applied
01:15starting now. In 2021, after much debate and protests and amendments, France passed
01:21a major piece of legislation about medically assisted reproduction. In France this is called
01:26PMA or Procréation Médicalement Assistée and that legislation allowed for a number
01:31of changes. Not only heterosexual couples but also single women and lesbian couples
01:37could now seek help through PMA, for example with IVF or in vitro treatments and also other
01:43methods medically to have a child. It also created new rules about donations, stripping
01:47the possibility of full anonymity as part of this 2021 bioethics law. This is something
01:54that de facto actually had already been happening because websites can now trace a person's
01:59DNA and quite often find out or get close to finding out who a biological parent is.
02:04As our reporters found out prior to the lifting of this anonymity through this law, actually
02:09knowing who your donor is, simply their name for example or their medical history, it can
02:13be a lifelong existential quest.
02:16It presents a constant question mark in my mind, one that's been there since my conception.
02:23I know the sperm donor is part of me, but I don't know what he passed on. The little
02:27game everyone plays with their parents is to know, hey, I take after dad in this way.
02:31The question remains unanswered for me. My father was able to transmit through his presence
02:36through nurture. But in regard to nature, what did my donor transmit?
02:41So Solange, why is this happening now and not when they passed this law?
02:45Well, this is actually the end of the transition period. France couldn't simply tell the over
02:5130 sperm banks in the country to wipe the site clean and start with new donor sperm
02:56and eggs. That would have made the waiting list skyrocket even more than it already has.
03:02Currently the average wait time for sperm is around a year and it can even be two years
03:06wait for egg donations. It depends on a number of factors, but that time waiting for a donor
03:12is incredibly difficult for people and for families.
03:15So what the government did instead is they began receiving new donations under the new
03:19law where the donors would sign documents accepting the lifting, the potential lifting
03:24of anonymity under specific guidelines. And I'll explain what they are in one second.
03:29All the while using the older stock and getting most of it through. But as of today, the use
03:35of those anonymous donations ends. And there is, of course, actually an exception to that
03:41that was made actually at the last minute. Under the law, frozen embryos were also slated
03:45to be destroyed. But a number of doctors, they expressed their outrage at this, that
03:49those embryos, they say, belong to the couples. They argued that with embryos you can't change
03:54the rules mid-course. With time ticking down, the French health body decided earlier this
03:59month that those embryos, so fertilized eggs, they would not be destroyed even if the donor
04:03was anonymous and thus will remain anonymous in most cases.
04:08And this has all created some anger on both sides because there are activists, fertility
04:13groups and people who were born through the use of a donor. Tell us about that.
04:19Well, this issue of anonymous donation is a prickly one for France, but also for many
04:25other nations because, as the European Union says in its directive on this, such questions
04:30are a balancing act of different rights. The rights of the person born from a donor to
04:34know their genetic history and heritage, the rights of the parents to raise that child
04:40with full or no disclosure about how they had the child, and then the rights also of
04:45the donor to remain removed or not from the person who has become a person. In any case,
04:52France decided, like a number of countries, to lift anonymity, but that does not mean
04:56it is a free-for-all with anything being able to happen. The new rules remain quite strict.
05:02First, as I mentioned, since September 2022, all donors now give, knowing their name, their
05:10age, where they were born, their physical characteristics, they can be given out on
05:16request by the child when they become an adult. And it is only – and this is where
05:22the strict part comes in – it is only that person who was made from the donor egg or
05:26sperm that can request the information, and they can only do so as an adult starting at
05:31the age of 18. The parents, for example, cannot make the request. Also, this is important,
05:35the person who donated has no legal obligation to respond to such a request for information
05:40or to pursue a relationship or even contact with the child-turned-adult. Legally, they
05:46do not become a parent because of this donation. And there has been a fear that lifting this
05:52anonymity would, in some way, harm the number of donations fewer people would donate.
05:58Yes, initial figures show that the lifting of anonymity actually has not created a sudden
06:04drop in donations. But France still does not have enough sperm or eggs, and this despite
06:10donation campaigns, public service announcements, and slogans. Not enough people give. People
06:16continue to travel abroad for help here in France, most notably to places like Spain
06:21and Greece. This was actually the main option for single and lesbian women prior to this
06:26bioethics law, but even today, because of long waiting lists, many people travel abroad
06:31for treatment. In France, unlike in some nations, it is illegal to receive money for donations.
06:36You can't give to a specific person either. For sperm, the basic rules are you have to
06:42be between—to give sperm, you have to be between 18 and 45, not have sexually transmitted
06:47diseases, be tested for other things. Also, one person's sperm can only be used 10 times
06:53to avoid risks that we have actually seen in previous cases in other countries of co-sanguineity.
07:01For eggs, it's even trickier because it does require hormonal treatments for the donor.
07:05But the gift is incredible. It allows people who otherwise wouldn't be able to have children
07:11to have them, and that is particularly important as there are thought to be some 3.3 million
07:17cases of infertility in France, and so it is a wonderful gift if you can give it.
07:24Really interesting. Thanks very much, Solange. Solange Mougin there with that look at the
07:30situation for sperm and egg donations here in France.
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