[ENCADRE titre="PMA en Europe : 1,15 million de cycles en 2023" contenu="En 2023, plus de 1,15 million de cycles de procréation médicalement assistée (PMA) ont été réalisés en Europe, selon les derniers chiffres disponibles. Ce nombre inclut les traitements de fécondation in vitro (FIV), d'insémination artificielle (IA) et d'autres techniques de PMA."]

The 2023 data from the European Consortium: 247,021 births for over one million cycles. Behind these figures, a vast embryo economy.

The fact

The European IVF Monitoring Consortium (EIM), at the 42nd annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE), released its preliminary data for 2023: 1,156,316 ART cycles recorded in Europe, resulting in 247,021 births. France is at the forefront. The success rate remains very variable depending on the woman's age, as recalled by the EIM reports. The number of surplus embryos frozen continues to grow year after year.

Our reading

These figures reflect less progress than industrialization. One million annual cycles mean several million oocytes collected, as many embryos produced, a significant portion of which are destroyed or stored indefinitely. Donum vitae (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 1987) reminds us that "the human being must be respected and treated as a person from the moment of conception," and declares in vitro fertilization itself illicit in that it separates procreation from the conjugal union of the spouses. The catechism reiterates this teaching. Familiaris consortio (n° 14) teaches that the child is a gift, not a right. The difference is decisive: a right is demanded, a gift is received. The logic of the right to a child necessarily creates the industry that this report reveals.

To ponder

Behind these 247,021 births, there are as many real, loved children who exist: their dignity is never diminished by the circumstances of their arrival. But each child born in a test tube is also a sign of a civilization that refuses fragility and prefers to freeze rather than welcome. Let us pray for couples afflicted by infertility, and support the practitioners of NaProTechnology who restore fertility with respect for the person.