It is possible that state institutions make these policies based exactly on my assumption above, which seems like it could be incorrect. Or perhaps even 1-2% is still enough to cause significant social cost if easily exposed.
Doing a DNA test for yourself is also illegal...
Surrogacy is also not legal in France because “Any agreement, even if it does not provide for remuneration, whereby a woman agrees to conceive, bear and give birth to a child and then renounce it, is contrary to public order, the inviolability of the human body and the personal status of a natural person.”
So I wouldn't put much stoke into the policies of France on this matter
Anyway, I do hope that I'm not being imperialistic when I criticize laws of my own country.
Curiously, only the USA and formerly Soviet countries permit paid surrogacy, and even altruistic surrogacy is illegal in much of the EU, including Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, and Italy.
a) it's also part of the same discourse related to bioethics, the legal reasoning in France has the same component as the legal reasoning around euthanasia, paternity testing and dna test in that it doesn't recognize the rights of people to dispose of their own body.
b) When my sister was trying to do IVF and didn't get results for years, they were investigating the possibility of doing surrogacy abroad
c) I voted for Macron, among many reasons, because he was more open minded about surrogacy than his opponents.
I can see an argument against paid surrogacy but making altruistic surrogacy illegal is something I disagree vehemently.
But then again, I'm also very much in disagreement about the French legislation against prostitution (interestingly most organizations of sex workers or organizations that are implicated in helping sex workers are also against the law there too)