Access to Assisted Reproductive Technologies: The Case of France and Belgium

by Jennifer Merchant (Editor)

Overview

Despite France and Belgium sharing and interacting constantly with similar culinary tastes, music and pop culture, access to Assisted Reproductive Technologies are strikingly different. Discrimination written into French law acutely contrasts with non-discriminatory access to ART in Belgium. The contributors of this volume are social scientists from France, Belgium, England and the United States, representing different disciplines: law, political science, philosophy, sociology and anthropology. Each author has attempted, through the prism of their specialties, to demonstrate and analyse how and why this striking difference in access to ART exists.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781789204322
Publisher:	Berghahn Books, Incorporated
Publication date:	11/04/2019
Series:	Fertility, Reproduction and Sexuality: Social and Cultural Perspectives , #43
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	242
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Jennifer Merchant is a Professor of Anglo-American legal and political institutions at the Université de Paris II (Panthéon-Assas). She is a leading researcher in bioethical issues of comparative public policy with expertise in North American and European policy, and the politics and regulation of medical technologies involving human reproduction.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations

Foreword: Recognizing Donor-Conceived Families: A Major Issue in Europe’s Bioethics Debates
Irène Théry

Map. ART in Europe

Introduction
Jennifer Merchant

PART I: VISIBLE BORDERS – LAW AND PUBLIC POLICY

Chapter 1. ART and French Law: The Advantages and Inconveniences of the Therapeutic Model
Laurence Brunet

Chapter 2. ART and Surrogacy in Belgium: No Borders for Access – Few Borders for Kinship
Jehanne Sosson

PART II: INVISIBLE BORDERS, FRANCE, BELGIUM

Chapter 3. Does the Embryo Make the Family? Access to Embryo Donation in France
Séverine Mathieu

Chapter 4. Access to ART in France and Belgium: The Standpoint of Four ART Practitioners
Jennifer Merchant

Chapter 5. Removing Anonymity for Egg and Sperm Donors? (Re-)Igniting the Debate in Belgium
Cathy Herbrand and Nicky Hudson

PART III: SAME-SEX FAMILIES AND SURROGACY

Chapter 6. When French Couples Become Parents Through Surrogacy in the United States: What Relationship with the Surrogate
Jérôme Courduriès

Chapter 7. Using ART or Surrogacy: Designating Third Parties in the Reproductive Process, and Representing Family Ties in Same-Sex Families
Martine Gross

Chapter 8. Queer Families Online: The Internet as a Resource for Accessing and Facilitating Surrogacy and ART in France and the United States
Michael Stambolis-Ruhstorfer

PART IV: CROSS-BORDER PRACTICES

Chapter 9. Single Men and Women Barred From Using ART in France
Dominique Mehl

Chapter 10. Cross-Border Reproductive Care for French Patients in Belgium
Guido Pennings

Chapter 11. Is ART a “National Issue”?
Marie Gaille

Conclusion
Jennifer Merchant

Index

Editorial Reviews

“As this volume shows, social scientists continue to address the stiffness of some social norms and cultural symbols through teaching, publications, and public engagement. This book is certainly one more tool to soften, cross, transform, overlap, and queer mental barriers.” • Medical Anthropology Quarterly

“This book provides detailed and broad insight into ART practices in France and Belgium and will make an invaluable contribution to the existing knowledge about ethical and social issues around ART. The interdisciplinary approach and perspectives from different disciplinary backgrounds make this book a rich collection of high-quality contributions.” • Ruth Horn, University of Oxford

From the Publisher