The post was verified as genuine and legal by its hosting website, and comes just weeks after a divisive same-sex marriage law was passed in France.
“I am a young mother in perfect health, a trained nurse of 29, and I am renting my breasts to milk-feed infants,” the advertisement read.
“Gay male couples do not have a chance to breast-feed their babies — however, breast-feeding helps improve babies health. Mother’s milk provides comprehensive nourishment. Contact me through this site — those who are not serious should stay away.”
Addressed exclusively to married homosexual couples, the young woman guarantees 10 breast-feeds a day and said she is prepared to travel from her Paris home.
France is one of a handful of counties which have legalised gay-marriage as well as adoption in recent months , but it does not permit the same couples to take part in surrogacy of assisted reproduction.
While predominantly a Roman Catholic nation, the country has a long history with strong ties of struggling to separate both church and state. That said, there has been great opposition towards the new same-sex law – with nationwide protests.
Staff of the website where the ad was posted have confirmed that they know her identity and assured reporters of the seriousness of her offer. They have also carried out investigation to ascertain whether the proposal is legal:
“Our legal advisers are sure of this. It’s illegal in France to sell maternal milk but this is a person proposing a service, not selling the milk in flasks,” Alexandre Woog, chief executive of the e-loue website told reporters.
So how much interest has there been in the offer?
Well, via the website, the poster, who (like all advertisers) uses a pseudonym, replied: “I‘ve received more than a dozen requests, but only half of them were serious. The rest were from perverts,”
- Breast-feeding children other than your own, or wet-nursing, dates back centuries.
- Wet, nursing only faded out once bottle-feeding was introduced.
- The World health Organisation (WHO) say’s a mother’s milk is always best, but recommends wet-nursing as a suitable alternative when that isn’t an option for mothers.
- Many health organisations discourage wet-nursing in public hospitals for fear of spreading infectious diseases such as HIV.
- Health screening should be taken as a safety precaution for those who wish to wet-nurse.
- Human breast-milk is even a luxury commodity for adults. The Japan Times recently reported that some business are offering the wet-nurse service for the rich. The elderly and ill are apparently paying high prices for what they believe is the highest-nutritious milk available.
