Bull Acad Natl Med
February 2016
After first defining surrogacy, distinguishing between cases in which the pregnancy results from the surrogate's own egg or a donor egg, and examining the different configurations of male homosexual families, the authors outline French and foreign legislation and provide a summary of the literature and of French working group hearings. Arguments for and against lifting the ban on surrogacy for gay couples are examined. The main arguments for lifting the ban are the following: 1) the same-sex couple's desire to start a family from their own gene pool, 2) current obstacles to adoption, 3) the notion of equality between heterosexual and homosexual couples, 4) frequent recourse to surrogacy abroad, which is not only very costly but also leaves the child in a state of legal limbo on its return to France, and 5) the lack of access to therapeutic alternatives.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSince the publication of the French national survey of violence against women in 2000, the fight against domestic violence has made steady progress. Knowledge of the phenomenon has significantly improved. A nationwide study of murders and manslaughters perpetrated by one partner of a couple against the other has been published annually since 2006.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFollowing the transfusion of a young woman with two units of blood infected by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) during a Cesarean section performed at the Obstetrics and Gynecology Unit of Port-Royal Hospital in Paris in 1984, the author realized the danger that this virus would represent for women and their children, at a time when the infection seemed to be confined to homosexuals, drug addicts, hemophiliacs and transfusion recipients. He was confronted with a whole series of issues, including the rejection of HIV-positive women; the need for special precautions in the labor room and operating theater; and the need for these patients to be managed in a single center staffed by skilled and willing healthcare professionals who could help them decide whether or not to continue the pregnancy. The main risks at this time were the onset of life-threatening opportunistic infections during pregnancy and HIV transmission to the child (estimated at 20% to 30%).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBull Acad Natl Med
October 2010
In 1986, a surgeon who, as an amateur boxer himself was concerned with boxers' health, approached a pioneering Parisian neuroimaging unit. Thus began a study in close cooperation with the French Boxing Federation, spanning 25 years. In a first series of 52 volunteer boxers (13 amateurs and 39 professionals), during which MRI gradually replaced computed tomography, ten risk factors were identified, which notably included boxing style: only one of 40 "stylists" with a good boxing technique had cortical atrophy (4.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAfter defining surrogate pregnancy and distinguishing cases in which the surrogate mother simply bears the child from those in which she is also the egg donor, the authors summarize foreign legislation in this area, together with the task force subs auditions and the literature. They list arguments for and against removing the current coup ban on surrogate motherhood. Arguments for include:--infertility due to the lack of a uterus, either congenitally or following hysterectomy, or to functional destruction of the uterus, repeated failure of in vitro fertilization, and the existence of a disorder that would threatening the future mother's life if she became pregnant;--perception of this infertility and the resulting suffering as an injustice;--the lack of alternative solutions;--the difficulties of adoption, and the fact that the adopted child does not carry the genes of the adopting parents;--the current recourse to surrogate mothers abroad, which is costly and discriminatory and leaves the child in a difficult legal situation on its return to France;--the generally satisfactory observed outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe two new HPV vaccines (Gardasil quadrivalent and Cervarix bivalent 16,11) are both effective against HPV types 16 and 18, which are responsible for 70% of cervical cancers, and the quadrivalent vaccine is effective against HPV 6 and 11, responsible for genital warts. Their efficacy is 100% if they are administered before exposure to HPV 16,18. The proven duration of protection against high-grade cervical lesions is currently 5 years, and the need for boosters is unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe French parliament adopted in January 2002 a law on access to the origins of persons who where adopted at birth. The National Council for access to personal origins (CNAOP) was created in order to apply this new law. The law's purpose was to attempt to conciliate the interests of adults who wish to know their origins, those of pregnant women who want to keep their motherhood secret, and those of children who have the right to live in the best conditions, and obtain the best possible chance of having a happy childhood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBull Acad Natl Med
April 2004
Female genital mutilations, as well as forcible childhood marriage and their correlate adolescent pregnancies are traditional practices which, not only violate the dignity, but also jeopardize the health, and even the life, of women and their children. The complications of genital mutilations are frequent for a number of reasons: the fact that the clitoris is highly vascularized, the nature of the mutilations, excision or infibulation, and the poor conditions of hygiene. The short term complications are pain, hemorrhage, shock, and urinary retention.
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