New President, New Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research Policy: Comparative International Perspectives and Embryonic...

This article provides an overview of French legislative history, Parliamentary debates, and recent amendments in hESC research policy, as well as additional comparisons with laws across the European Union. Unlike policy discussions in the U.S., French dialogue on hESC research generally rejects the arbitrary division between the status of the embryo and hESCs, recognizing that hESC research necessarily requires the destruction of human embryos. Accordingly, French discourse debates the competing interests of science with secular ethical and civic considerations relating to the symbolic status of the embryo and society's duty to moderate what constitutes appropriate boundaries on research. Parliament recently amended France's hESC research laws to explicitly permit hESC research, signaling the beginning of reform efforts under President Hollande's new power structure, but the inclusion of secular moral considerations in the policy debate will likely restrain the extent of any future changes.