Should a bioethics law authorize trans men, women of birth, and those biologically capable of carrying a pregnancy to become mothers? Do men with a uterus have access to PMA after changing their gender on the Civil Registry? On Tuesday, the Constitutional Council discussed a priority question of constitutionality (QPC) on this new topic of a complex society that mixes biology, gender and administrative law. The State Council forwarded the matter to the elders.
At the start of this legal battle was the Giaps Association (Group for Information and Action on Coercive and Sexual Issues), which condemns discrimination and the obstruction of reproductive and family rights of trans people. The topic had already prompted a review of bioethics law. Several amendments to open the PMA to trans people were rejected during parliamentary debates, notably by the elected LREM. “It will lead to a man with civil status becoming a mother, which is difficult.”, was especially opposed to the former Minister of Health, Agnes Buzin. But the topic is not closed for activists. On June 25, the entry of trans men into the PMA was also one of the main points of the LGBT Pride march in Paris.
On Tuesday, in front of the Constitutional Council, Me Magaly Lhotel, Giaps’ lawyer, objected to one of the criteria used in the text, female in civil status, to define PMA availability. “Attack on the principle of equality before the law”.the lawyer said. “It can be said that only women can carry a pregnancy. But it is not the role of the legislator to come and say who can or cannot carry a pregnancy. This is the role of medical teams (…) There are men who have a uterus and can carry out a pregnancy in the CCA., he pleaded. In 2016, the law made it easier for transgender people to change their marital status, no longer requiring them to undergo sterilization. Then the choice is made “to develop the generation from the concept of civil status”hint MeMagaly Hotel.
“Duality is necessary for social and legal order”
This inability to access PMA today is faced by trans men who have not yet changed their marital status “intractable choice”because if they change it, they will no longer be able to benefit from the PMA, he says.
The lawyer representing the government, in turn, considered that this issue was already decided during the parliamentary discussions. The difference in the treatment of women and trans men is justified by the difference in the situation, “is attached not to a person’s biological sex, but to their reference in civil statuspointed out the latter. The principle of equality between men and women applies to situations of rights that are realized through the qualification of civil status. This binary qualification is fundamental in French law concerning the status of persons., he argued. Making PMA available would meet the child’s reproductive capacity criteria “recognize a new sexual category” and most likely “challenging the gender binary necessary to our social and legal organization”.
Finally, he argued that invoking the principle of equality presupposes the prior existence of a right. gold, “the child is a person and cannot be the object of the required right”.. The president of the Constitutional Council, Laurent Fabius, announced that the elders will make their decision on July 8. After a heated debate in Spain, the reach of the PMA was extended “pregnant transsexual people” last November.
Source: Le Figaro
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.