How Gabriel Attal is rekindling the highly inflammatory debate on surrogacy

Gabriel Attal, head of the Renaissance party, launched a discussion on surrogacy (GPA) , the practice of having a child through a surrogate mother, in the middle of the summer. Macronist elected officials have until this autumn to hear from experts: doctors, psychologists, and lawyers. The goal is to then submit the issue to members.

Gabriel Attal's entourage insists he does not intend to introduce a bill. For him, the issue is so divisive that it must be resolved in 2027, during the presidential election. Gabriel Attal wants to let the debate unfold, yes, but the man who makes no secret of his presidential ambitions is in any case advocating for so-called ethical surrogacy.

This would be a highly regulated surrogacy approach: with consent and not for profit. In short, the surrogate mother agrees to carry a child on behalf of other parents, but without financial compensation. Gabriel Attal advocates for ethical surrogacy because in some countries, the mother can receive a very large sum of money to carry the child, which can lead to a lot of abuse. This is the case in Ukraine and in some American states.

Gabriel Attal is instead considering taking inspiration from what is happening in Canada and the United Kingdom, where only the mother's medical expenses are reimbursed by the future parents.

But this doesn't prevent—and it's not illegal—parents from resorting to surrogacy abroad. Same-sex couples or couples experiencing infertility issues. This raises legal questions: what is the status of the child, and the parents, once they return to France? Since 2014, the civil registration of children born abroad through surrogacy has been mandatory, in the name of the child's best interests. As for the parents, until now, only the biological parent, the one who donated their gametes, was recognized as the legal parent. The other parent was required to go through adoption. Since last December, the Court of Cassation has recognized filiation even in the absence of a biological link.

Legalizing surrogacy would therefore put an end to a form of hypocrisy. This is what Gabriel Attal thinks, in any case. The former Prime Minister advocates for surrogacy for reasons of equality: his entourage insists, contrary to popular belief, that nearly two-thirds of couples who resort to surrogacy are heterosexual, often for infertility problems. He even talks about the birth rate issue. A nod to the famous “ demographic rearmament” desired by Emmanuel Macron .

It's even a red line, after having legalized PMA, medically assisted procreation in 2021, for single women and female couples, out of the question for the Head of State to go further . "GPA is not compatible with the dignity of women," is what he said last year in Elle magazine, "It is a form of commodification of their bodies."

A highly inflammatory political debate, as we see from the words of the Head of State, which necessarily contrast with those of Gabriel Attal, his former Prime Minister, the subject divides even within the central bloc.

Because in reality, as is often the case with societal issues, the debate goes beyond the simple left/right divide. One might think that the entire left supports surrogacy, seen as a progressive step forward, but Jean-Luc Mélenchon, for example, is very opposed to it. He fears that women will become “an instrument of production.”

Even within feminist ranks, the issue divides the public between the right to control one's own body and the exploitation of women's bodies. Surrogacy is somewhat more unanimously opposed on the right.

And what do the French think about it? It's making its way into public opinion: in an Ifop poll for BFMTV released in May 2024, 56% of French people said they were in favor of surrogacy for same-sex couples, and 71% for heterosexual couples. These figures have been rising, according to the polling institute, over the past ten years and the adoption of marriage for all.