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Marie Lanen
Head of parenting section (baby, pregnancy, family)
An Amiens woman is being prosecuted by the court of Laon in the Aisne for having sold two babies in the space of a year to two infertile couples, also prosecuted by Justice. A case that could revive the debate on surrogacy (GPA) in France.
It was Le Courrier Picard who revealed the case on Wednesday January 4, six people are being prosecuted by the Laon court for having paid for two gestational surrogacy (GPA). The babies were reportedly sold for 15,000 euros each.
GPA: a couple sold two babies for 15,000 euros each
According to information collected by Le Courrier Picard, a couple paid for a first surrogacy in 2016 for a couple whose wife suffered from infertility. To avoid being suspected, the pregnant woman (surrogate mother) presented the vital card of the other in order not to arouse suspicion. This strategy would have worked very well, the pregnancy and the baby would have cost 15,000 euros. A second couple called on their service, this time the woman was not infertile but suffered from cystic fibrosis. It is, moreover, this pathology which undermined the surrogate mother. Indeed, following a hospitalization for abdominal pain, the doctors realized that the blood test was not in phase with the disease of their supposed patient. An investigation was therefore opened and the surrogacy was discovered. During this investigation, the biological father of the two babies confessed that the service was sold for 15,000 euros.
NO to diets, YES to WW!
Six people prosecuted for hiding a child
The investigation carried out by the Laon investigating judge therefore pointed to the gestational surrogacy orchestrated between six people, the biological couple of the children and the two other couples who bought the babies. The two children were placed by the judge and the three couples are being prosecuted for hiding a child and provoking abandonment. They risk up to three years in prison. The trial was expected for last fall, it was postponed to next June.
As a reminder, in France, surrogacy was prohibited by the law of July 29, 1994 relating to respect for the human body which introduced a new article 16-7 into the civil code according to which “any agreement relating to procreation or gestation for another’s account is void”. For children born of surrogacy abroad, only filiation with the biological parent is recognized in fact in French law.
At the international level, no binding text relating to surrogacy has been adopted. Several European countries prohibit surrogacy: Germany, Spain, Italy, Luxembourg. Other countries, on the other hand, authorize the use of surrogate mothers such as Denmark, the Netherlands, Russia, Greece, Canada, certain American federated states, India.