At the age when many of her friends discover the experience of motherhood, Sophie
(the name has been changed)
, she separated from her companion.
It was in 2019, she was 31 years old, the biological clock ticking, the love and the couple who were unraveling and despite everything, the "desire to start a family".
She therefore decided to freeze her oocytes, a practice authorized today in France only for medical reasons and which allows women to preserve their fertility.
Until now, French women have had the possibility of having their "gametes" collected and kept only in two situations: before treatment for cancer or any treatment likely to alter fertility and, since 2011, if they are themselves. egg donors.
However, the bioethics law, currently under debate, must change the situation by legalizing the practice for all women.
With the extension of medically assisted procreation (MAP) to unmarried women and lesbian couples, the self-preservation of gametes outside of medical reasons is, in fact, another major societal development in the text.
"I had no privilege"
Sophie, researcher at the end of her thesis, therefore plunged in spite of herself into a form of clandestinity. “I had spoken to my gynecologist about it, my ovarian reserve was good. For me, it was the right moment, ”assures this dynamic woman with long brown hair. Information taken, she learns that a gynecologist, open on the subject, could help her in a hospital in the Paris region and therefore opted for this "underground" sector which she heard about by word of mouth. "I had no privilege, I just benefited from the help of professionals who decide to do this outside the legal framework for women's rights, I thank them", she underlines today 'hui.
Unlike many thirty-something who go to Belgium or Spain, two border countries where the practice is legal for a few thousand euros, Sophie was therefore able to be followed in France, to be reimbursed for her treatment and the operation by social security. passing for a woman engaged in a process of in vitro fertilization.
How did she live this experience in practice prohibited by law?
Sophie had her eggs frozen, a practice authorized today in France only for medical reasons.
AFP / Lluis Gene
“I felt very privileged.
When I was in the waiting room, I saw couples who were so sad, who tried to have children without succeeding… I was far from all that.
I was just doing this for myself, ”she recalls.
“I created a safety net for myself, although of course it is an imperfect net.
I offered myself the possibility of stretching the passage of time ”, repeats the researcher who therefore began, in 2020, a few months after the first confinement, an ovarian stimulation treatment, which consists, for several weeks, of different injections to do it yourself and blood tests.
But once we got to the hospital, everything went very quickly.
Sophie, after local anesthesia, was able to have twelve oocytes removed.
It was last November.
One less lead screed
Seven months later, Sophie is still single.
She might be a mother later.
Maybe not.
But she now has ten years ahead of her to eventually use her "gametes" and the impression of having a screed less on her shoulders.
It is with a light heart, traveling with friends, that she will follow with attention today the final fate of the bioethics law in the Assembly.
"I feel personally concerned, in particular because, thanks to the evolution of the law, I will be able to carry out a second operation legally and reimbursed, it will be simpler
(Editor's note: two punctures are recommended in this type of procedure to collect enough eggs)
”, confides the 30-something who would like, despite everything,“ not to become a mother too late ”.
