A child at all costs. A platform of illegal sperm donations, fueled by thousands of members and cryptocurrency payments, has just been closed by the gendarmerie. A man was arrested in the Paris region last week. We take stock.
- An illegal platform of sperm donations, Childable.net, was dismantled by the gendarmerie, revealing a black fertility market.
- The site administrator, arrested in Paris, admitted to having circumvented the legal framework of the PMA by selling his donations in cryptocurrency.
A « parallel PMA » out of control
The information was revealed by many media June 6. The gendarmes of the Lille research section have dismantled a website called Childable.netactive for over six years.
His mission? Relax sperm donors and women wishing to have a child, completely bypassing the legal framework for the Medically assisted procreation (PMA).
When it was closed, the platform had more than 7,000 members. Behind his old -fashioned design, a forum of a frantic activity. But above all, a total absence of traceability: it is impossible to know how many donations have really been made, or under what conditions.
Cryptocurrencies: a founder motivated by paternity … and money
Arrested in the Paris region, the site administrator, a man in his forties without a criminal history, recognized the facts. He will thus explain wanting to “give birth without assuming the responsibilities”. According to theinvestigationhe would have made several dozen donations since 2018.
In addition, the man offered paid subscriptions to the platform. He billed his gifts in cryptocurrencylike some other users. The site then becomes a real black market of fertility, mixing desire for children and digital transactions.
Major health and ethical risks
This bypass of the official system is not without consequences. In France, sperm donation is strictly supervised. Indeed, it is free, anonymous, limited to ten children per donor, and subject to rigorous medical examinations.
Childable.net I didn’t know all of this. No screening, no follow -up, no control. The risk of consanguinityof Transmission of genetic diseases or evensexual abuse is no longer hypothetical. Lieutenant-Colonel Vincent Audon, of the Lille SR, alert:
« But behind, there are also all the risks, in particular the total absence of verification, as for the state of health of the donor and the recipient, as for the existence or not of genetic diseases which will be able to harm future children designed with this artisanal gift. And then there is no traceability. So, we do not know how much the donor has made donations, with obviously risks of in -consanguinity ”
Lieutenant-Colonel Vincent Audon, second commander of the Lille research section, in charge of the survey-Source: RTL
A human flaw, not a matter of cryptocurrencies
Why did such a site prospered so long? The answer is hidden in the meanders of an official system with dreaded slowness. In some PMA centers, waiting times exceed two years. Faced with these endless lists, thousands of women-often alone, sometimes desperate-turn to alternatives, as doubtful they may be.
Finally, note that it is neither bitcoin nor ether that pose a problem here. Cryptocurrency is only an instrument, a piece in the decor. The real spring of the case is the commodification of a desire for a child, exploited by some to the detriment of all.
While we « order » a meal, a taxi or a partner of a thumb shift, some thought they could do the same with life. But parenting is neither a product nor a service: it is a commitment, and a territory that law, more than ever, must defend.