French Public Health Code
In forcePreimplantation diagnosis is the biological diagnosis carried out using cells taken from the embryo in vitro.
Preimplantation diagnosis is only authorised in exceptional cases under the following conditions:
A doctor practising in a multidisciplinary prenatal diagnosis centre as defined by article L. 2131-1 must certify that the couple or the unmarried woman, due to her family situation, has a high probability of giving birth to a child suffering from a particularly serious genetic disease recognised as incurable at the time of diagnosis.
The diagnosis can only be made when the anomaly or anomalies responsible for such a disease have been previously and accurately identified in one of the parents, or in one of the parents' immediate ascendants in the case of a severely debilitating, late-onset and prematurely life-threatening disease.
Both members of the couple or the unmarried woman express their consent to the diagnosis in writing.
The sole purpose of the diagnosis is to identify the condition and the means of preventing and treating it.
It may only be carried out, under certain conditions, in an establishment specifically authorised for this purpose by the Agence de la biomédecine instituted in article L. 1418-1.
In the event of an embryo being diagnosed with the anomaly or anomalies responsible for one of the diseases mentioned in the second paragraph, the two members of the couple or the unmarried woman, if they confirm their intention not to pursue their parental project with regard to this embryo, may consent to it being the subject of research under the conditions laid down in Article L. 2151-5. Notwithstanding the second paragraph of article L. 1111-2 and article L. 1111-7, only the doctor prescribing the medical biology tests intended to establish a prenatal diagnosis is authorised to communicate the results to the pregnant woman.
