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FRANCE REJECTS SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
France, along with other European nations,
may be on the road to perdition with its extremely low birthrate
and the resulting economic problems. Nonetheless, France obviously
cares, and cares deeply, about those children that it does
have. With a birth rate of only 1.76, France desperately wants
to protect the children that have been born to them.
At the request of the President of the National
Assembly, Jacques Chirac, a special 30 member multi-party
"Information Mission" was created to propose changes
in French law to better protect the rights of children and
to reflect changes in the French family.
In carrying out this responsibility, the Mission
traveled to Spain, the U.K., Belgium, The Netherlands and
Canada. The visit to politically correct Canada must have
given them quite a shock! These countries, with the exception
of the U.K., have all made same-sex marriages legal.
The Mission's Report was tabled in the French
National Assembly on January 26, 2006. This wide ranging report
touched on many aspects of children's lives, including same-sex
marriage, adoption, and procreation of children by way of
the new medical technologies.
To the great credit of the Mission, it chose
as its guiding principle the best interests of the child because
it said, "it is the responsibility of society, and especially
its legislative bodies, to ensure that children are able to
develop harmoniously". According to the Mission's report,
this principle led to the Mission's decision to affirm and
protect children's rights and the privacy of those rights
over adults' aspirations. This is a refreshing change and
a far cry from the situation in Canada where adult demands
for rights and privileges override any rights or concerns
for children.
Another refreshing approach was that the majority
of the Mission was of the view that when children's lives
are the issue, legislators must act very cautiously and calmly
to seek a social consensus, rather than trying to bring about
changes through a legislative revolution (quite different
from the same-sex marriage debate held last June in Canada's
Parliament).
What is amazing about this report is the logical
and common sense way in which it approached the hot button
issue of same-sex marriage. The report stated that "marriage
is organized around the child and marriage is not merely the
contractual recognition of the love between a couple; it is
a framework that imposes rights and duties, and that is designated
to provide for the care and harmonious development of the
child". Thus the Mission concluded that children who
represent the future of society must be defended regardless
of developments in other countries that fail to protect children
from same-sex marriages. The report seriously criticized the
studies on same sex parenting that claimed that same-sex parenting
carried no ill effects for children. The Mission noted the
lack of scientific rigor, inadequate samplings and the flagrant
lack of objectivity in these studies.
The report went on to say, forthrightly, that
foreign examples demonstrate that countries that have made
marriage available to same-sex couples have all, simultaneously
or subsequently, authorized adoption by those couples and
developed systems for assisted procreation or surrogate gestation,
to enable those couples to have children. The Mission totally
rejected this along with same-sex marriage.
Adoption of Children
The Mission recommended that the current rules
in France on adoption should remain. That is, the Mission
recommended that adoption should only be permitted by married
and single individuals. It rejected "making adoption
available to unmarried couples because of the lesser permanency
of such couples and the fact that there is no judicial involvement
in the event of separation". They concluded that children
require legal and emotional security that only marriage provides
and that same-sex parenting introduces additional discontinuity
for the adopted child.
According to the Report, adopted children
have already suffered the trauma of being abandoned, and,
quite often, being uprooted. They must therefore be given
the greatest possible protection from the risk that their
parents will separate, and that marriage offers children this
legal security.
Medical Justification for Assisted Procreation
At present, French law allows assisted procreation
for medical reasons only, to counteract sterility arising
from pathology, or to avoid the transmission of a serious
illness. The reason given for limiting this process is the
fact that it is a very expensive procedure (15,000 euros or
$20,306 Canadian dollars), covered by social security. Therefore,
the Mission concluded that such procedures should be available
only for medically justified reasons. The Mission sensibly
concluded that expanding access to medically assisted procreation
to same-sex couples would be opening the door to procreation
for convenience, independent of any medical consideration.
Further, the Mission argued that making assisted procreation
available to all women, and without any medical reason, would
result in discrimination against male homosexual couples since
only lesbian couples would then benefit from such a policy.
Therefore, the Mission rejected any expansion
of medical technology to procreate children.
Finally, the Mission stated it was opposed
to the insemination of single women, because it would encourage
the birth of fatherless children, which would be against the
best interests of the child.
Surrogate Motherhood
The Mission opposed the legalization of surrogate
motherhood because:
- it causes the disposal of a human body,
i.e. the transferring of the surrogate created child to a
couple who arranged for this medical procedure; and
- it causes the breakdown of maternal filiation or relationship
lines.
Further, the Mission stated that surrogacy
denies the bond that grows between mother and child during
pregnancy and opens the door to a wide range of abuses and
for this reason, it deemed surrogacy unacceptable.
Summary of the French Mission Report
In a few simple, forthright statements, the
Mission Report has put in perspective the entire issue of
same-sex marriage, adoption of children by same-sex couples,
and the procreation of children based on the "wants"
or desires of adults, but not the best interests of children.
The empty arguments, political maneuvering and lies that have
permeated this debate in Canada are exposed by the French
Mission Report. Canada's policies on same-sex marriage and
children are based on extreme political correctness devoid
of common sense, mature thought and analysis. Under Canadian
policy, children are incidental tools used to advance homosexual
rights. Fortunately, France refused to go this route and is
one nation that has got this matter right.
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