International conference on the well-being of children born through assisted reproductive technologies

Conference organized by the Institut national d’études démographiques (Ined) - research units "Fertility, families, couples" and "Sexual and reproductive health and rights", and "International perspectives" research pole.

 4th June 2019, Paris, France
Entrance : 292 rue Saint-Martin, 75003 Paris

The number of children born through assisted reproductive technologies (ART) has grown rapidly in recent decades. Today in France, one child in thirty is conceived by ART. However, little is known about the future well-being of these children, and the few available studies are not well known to the general public. These studies have also been strongly criticized because of methodological limitations, and mainly date from the 1990s or the early 2000s. In view of the recent intense debates in France on proposed changes to bioethics legislation, our knowledge about ART and their impacts on child well-being should be updated.

The conference therefore aims to present a panorama of recent longitudinal studies following children born through ART. A review of these studies seems essential today in France, where access and opportunities to such technologies are changing but the public debate is not being based on the scientific literature. The studies that will be presented have conducted detailed analyses to understand the links between ART and future child outcomes, and focus on the children as the main unit of analysis, and not the parents and their prenatal trajectory as previously done.

The purpose of this day is to give visibility to these studies and their results and to encourage further research on the subject. It will also allow a space for dialogue on this subject between different experts and actors from civil society, the medical community and governmental and legal institutions.

The morning will be devoted to the presentation of scientific studies (and perspectives from researchers in epidemiology, demography and psychology), ), based on data from several Scandinavian countries, France, and the United Kingdom; the afternoon will be devoted to two discussion panels where the methods, approaches and results presented in the morning will be discussed.

Presidente de séance : Lidia Panico (Ined)

9h00-9h45
Patricia Fauque, Service du Laboratoire de Biologie de la Reproduction-CECOS, Centre d’Assistance Médicale à la Procréation de Dijon, France 
“Etat de santé des enfants conçus après Assistance médicale à la procréation”

9h45-10h30
Vasanti Jadva, Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge, Royaume-Uni
“A longitudinal study of parenting, parent-child relationships and children's psychological adjustment in families created through gamete donation and surrogacy”

10h30-11h00 – pause-café

 11h00-11h45
Agnès Condat, Service de Psychiatrie de l'Enfant et de l'Adolescent, GH PITIE-SALPETRIERE, France
« Développement psycho-affectif d'enfants conçus par IAD et dont le père est un homme transgenre, étude comparative transversale »

11h45-12h30
Alice Goisis, Centre for Longitudinal Studies, University College London, Royaume-Uni
“A demographic perspective on Medically Assisted Reproduction”

12h30-14h00 – Déjeuner libre

14h00 – 15h30
Table-ronde n°1 - Les évaluations : pourquoi évaluer ? qui évalue ? qui est évalué ? comment ?

Président de séance : Laurent Toulemon (Ined)

Interventions confirmées :
Association Mam’ensolo
Serges Hefez, Hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière
Marie-Claude Picardat, APGL
Fabienne Pessione, Agence de biomédecine
Maryse Bonduelle, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Reproduction and Genetics Research Group (REGE)

15h30 – 16h00 – pause-café

16h00-17h30
Table-ronde n°2 – La révision de la loi de bioéthique en France : quelles réflexions en amont, quelles conséquences pour le futur ?

Présidente de séance : Virginie Rozee (Ined)

Interventions confirmées :
Jean-Louis Touraine, Député du Rhône
Arthur Kermalvezen et Audrey Kermalvezen, Association Origines
Eva Dupont d'Ohid, Blog Icimamasolo
Nathalie Rives, Présidente de la fédération des Cecos

17h30 – 17h45 Mots de clôture

 Ariane Pailhé, Directrice déléguée de la recherche (Ined)