ABSTRACT
French law (like the law of Italy, Luxembourg and Spain) offers a choice to women who give birth not to become legal mothers.32 It is possible to enter a hospital in France without revealing one’s identity where delivery is imminent. This possibility is perceived as a woman’s right and exists also in Italian law. The right is protected under the French Civil Code by Art 341-1, whereby ‘at the time of her delivery a mother may demand that the secret of her admission and of her identity be preserved’.33 The right is referred to as ‘accouchement sous X’, because the mother will be recorded on the birth certificate as X, an anonymous woman. Article 341 precludes a child born anonymously (ne sous X) from establishing any legal tie to the mother, even if her identity should be discovered. This is important, because legal ties in French law give rise to automatic rights of succession. The action to establish a legal bond with a mother (action en recherche de maternité) cannot be instituted by a child born to X and, if it should be, a court is legally required to refuse it. It is legally barred. There is a comparable ‘action en recherche de paternité’ which remains open.34
