If medically-assisted procreation is quickly a authorized actuality for all French girls, baby help from males have to be scrapped — RT Op-ed

By Rachel Marsden, Columnist, political strategist and presenter of an independently produced French-language program broadcast on Sputnik France. Their website can be found at rachelmarsden.com

A major social debate is set to explode in France, where the government is expected to allow all women, including those without reproductive difficulties, access to publicly funded medically assisted procreation.

It’s time men were removed from the equation and reduced to sperm donor status, right? “My body, my choice”? Great then let’s pay the entire bill for our own choices like the strong, independent women we are. This new legislative leap throws a blatant light on the role of men in procreation and parenthood – which should now be officially reduced to nothing.

According to French law, any woman has long been able to unilaterally choose to procreate without the express consent of a male partner. Two articles appearing in the same issue of Le Figaro this month illustrate the current state of affairs. The first part highlights the pleas of single women who unilaterally choose to expose themselves to the risk of pregnancy and then turn to the legal system to conduct a “paternity search” for child support and any benefits or rights of succession to obtain.

The second represents the opposite side of the same debate in which men seek “the right not to be fathers” and who believe that “the law gives women omnipotence in matters of filiation”.

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These men are not wrong. In this day and age, pregnancy with all of the contraceptive technology in place is unique and a woman’s choice alone. We also live in a time when contracts exist for practically everything in life. So why should something as important and transformative as reproduction not be subject to clear and defined consent and expectation? Why would a woman who doesn’t even have a contract with a man that defines the relationship status that she can expect to intervene if she unilaterally chooses to reproduce?

The only men who should be required to fund such an enterprise are those who have entered into an explicit contract for the relationship (i.e., an official marriage or a common law union agreement) and then with consent to reproduce on the dotted line have been logged off. In this case, the man should definitely expect to pay the usual 12-13% of his salary to fund the project up to the age of 25, as is currently required under French law in the event that the couple breaks up separates.

In the absence of explicit male consent at the outset, both for the relationship and for the reproductive decision, it should be assumed that the woman has chosen to do everything herself – which we, as modern women who make our own, can do Decisions and don’t need a man, right? There is nothing more degrading about a woman’s autonomy than forcing her to take a man’s money every month as if she were unable to fund and manage her own life and decisions. The law in France and elsewhere should have evolved long ago to show more respect and dignity for women instead of treating us as if we couldn’t get along without parasitizing men’s wallets.

If we wanted to give up birth control, we wanted a child. And doing so with a man who has no legal, explicit, contractual ties with us means we shouldn’t expect his participation unless he willingly insists on contributing in a way that he deems right – at this point it is our own choice whether or not to accept it.

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Similarly, why should we expect the state to take the tab for our decision to reproduce? The idea that the great father’s government step in to offer benefits and financial assistance is really just another means of infantilizing us and undermining our autonomy. The result is that women are unable to finance their own life choices and instead demand the taxpayer to step into the paternalistic role of the male partner in order to finance parenthood. Get lost already! What an absolute insult!

How about if we tell the nanny to stay out of our reproductive decisions and outcomes and stop treating us like we are incapable, pathetic, and need handouts?

With luck, it seems that free and full access to medically assisted pregnancy could empower women to finally make our choices. “The first baby born by PMA (Medically Assisted Reproduction) to a couple of women or a single woman will be born before the end of the mandate,” said Emmanuel Macron, French Minister of Health Olivier Véran, recently.

Also, let’s make sure that by the end of Macron’s tenure in April 2022, the umbilical cord is cut on any child support that neither men nor taxpayers have specifically consented to. Only then will we women really be seen as equal.

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The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily correspond to those of RT.