Marc-Olivier Fogiel tells how he had his two daughters

On February 9, 2022 on France 2 at 9:10 p.m., an evening will be devoted to a societal evolution that has emerged in force in recent years: that of Surrogacy, or GPA. It settled into the political debate in a very visible way in 2017, with the campaign promises of candidate Macron: that not of legalizing surrogacy in France, but of recognizing children from such backgrounds in French families. On the program for the evening in particular, a fiction inspired by the testimony of Marc-Olivier Fogiel, author of What’s wrong with my family?a book that tells the story of GPA from which his two daughters come.

aufeminin therefore questioned him: why did you want to transmit this testimony on surrogacy? For the facilitator, “the goal is not to convince but to stop the fantasy machine. I want people to be able to have an informed opinion, knowingly, without relying on clichés or ‘we say’. That France 2 gives this visibility to our families, it’s huge. I expect from the film that people have an opinion, whatever it may be, with full knowledge of the facts”.

Have a personal point of view on surrogacy

This is also what the producers want: to go through the point of view of the intimate, to tell “an obstacle course driven by an incredible engine common to these couples: the desire, stronger than anything, to be a parent, despite the difficulties, the financial means to be mobilized, the procedures, the anxieties linked to medical procedures, the expectations , doubts, fatigue.” With this evening, the channel also wishes to address the tensions that this subject gives rise to, and to give an unprecedented place to the point of view of surrogate mothers.

Marc-Olivier Fogiel: “I looked for an ethical GPA”

To start a family, Marc-Olivier Fogiel completed a GPA course in the United States. Why this choice ? “There are few countries where we talk about ethical surrogacy, with balanced reports, a course with stages that require everyone’s validation, hindsight, very informed consent. I looked for a very structured course that guaranteed a form of balance for everyone”, explains this father of two daughters, who know very well where they come from, they explain to his detractors. He also believes that he had a career “very long but not very complicated, where things happened quite naturally.” The greatest difficulties came from the laws of the time which did not recognize children from surrogacy abroad in France. He explains : “What was complicated for us at the time was to secure our family., all the French legislation so that our children are really our children, that they are sisters between them. In the end, the most complicated thing was the steps to take and the changes in the law for us to have a family.
After the broadcast of the TV movie, a debate will take place with families and specialists in the matter. Finally, France 2 will rebroadcast the infrared documentary PMA-GPA, the children have the floor to end this evening.