French Insoumise MPs want to open PMA to transgender men

Defiant France’s (LFI) MPs introduced a bill on Wednesday to re-open the PMA to transgender men born biologically female and able to conceive. “Transgender men, people born biologically females who are transitioning to male and/or changeable sex, with gestational ability, cannot resort to ART (medicated reproduction, also called ART) just because their gender is mentioned in a civil status. expressed regret for the rebellious elected Ségolène Amyot during a press conference at the National Assembly.

“Mentioning in civil status records should not be an obstacle to kinship,” she insisted in a conversation with her colleague Bastien Lachot. The Bioethics Act of August 2021 expanded access to assisted reproduction for female couples and single women. In July 2022, the Constitutional Council approved the exclusion of transgender men from access to PMA. A provision challenged by the transgender advocacy association.

In addition to opening the PMA to transgender text, Ségolène Amyot plans to preserve the self-preservation of gametes for all people. “The change in sex designation makes the use of gametes by pairs today uncertain,” said the MP for Loire-Atlantique.

Trouble in the LFI group

Her bill, which is not on the agenda of the National Assembly, would also like to make possible a method known as “receiving oocytes from a partner” or ROPA, which allows a woman to donate an oocyte to her partner for the purpose of assisted childbearing. This method, allowed in Spain, has been discussed but rejected in previous debates about French bioethics laws, seen by some as a transition to surrogacy. “In this bill, there is neither near nor far the possibility of resorting to surrogate motherhood,” defended Segolene Amyot.

Finally, its text provides that the procedure for early joint recognition of a child applies to all couples, including those in which “the man gives birth to a child”. During the previous five-year term, LFI MPs Bastien Lachot and Daniel Obono introduced a similar bill to “make artificial insemination a universal right”.

In early June, the group experienced a flurry over the issue of LGBT+ people’s rights when François Ruffin repealed a gender reassignment law in the name of “appeasement”. Several recalcitrant elected officials criticized the “personal” stance, and the MP for the Somme, a potential candidate in the 2027 presidential election, corrected himself and acknowledged the need to “move forward” on the issue.