French appeal court allows adoption of assisted reproduction babies

Lesbian couples in France may now adopt babies born due to assisted reproductive technology (ART), the highest French appeals court ruled on Tuesday.

ART - also known as assisted reproduction - is banned in France but the fact that a mother has gone abroad to use it is “not an obstacle” to the adoption of a baby here, the Court de Cassation declared.

Some courts have ruled that such adoptions were fraudulent evasion but the court ruled against that argument.

Opponents of France’s gay marriage law, which was passed last year, have called a demonstration in a fortnight’s time against ART, claiming that it opens the way to surrogate parenthood, which they say would lead to the commercialization of the birth process.

Other campaigners, including hundreds of women who admit to having gone abroad for the procedure, have called for an end to the ban on ART in France.

Socialist MPs dropped an amendment to the same-sex marriage bill that would have legalized it during last year's massive protests.

In June the European Court of Human Rights ordered France to end a ban on recognizing children born to surrogate mothers.

(http://www.english.rfi.fr/)