The embryos were stored in jars, revealed Provence. It was workers who made this discovery while emptying the garage of the house of the doctor, who died in 2021.
Embryos were discovered on Monday at the home of a former doctor in Mouriès, a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône, revealed Provence. They were kept in jars, stored in the garage.
It was workers who made the terrible discovery while emptying the garage of the residence, reports the daily. Dispatched to the scene, the gendarmes proceeded to seize the jars.
“Never seen or heard of”
The owner of the premises, a former doctor, died in October 2021 at the age of 83, reveals again Provence. The latter ceased to practice in 2016. Heard by the gendarmes on the day of the discovery, his companion for 40 years claimed to have “never seen or heard of” these embryos, reports the daily.
An investigation was opened and entrusted to the research brigade of the Arles gendarmerie. “It is for the moment a question of determining the causes of death”, announced the parquet floor of Tarascon to Provence. An autopsy was ordered. The results of these analyzes will be decisive in a context where many questions remain.
“We do not know if it is a fetus or embryos”
“First of all, we do not know if it is a fetus or embryos, explained the public prosecutor of Tarascon, Laurent Gumbau, to the daily. To find out if we qualify the facts as ‘concealment of corpse’, it is necessary to estimate whether these children were viable, which we cannot yet confirm at this stage.”
And to add: “We do not know when it dates, we must determine the moment of their conception”.
These embryos would have been removed “within the legal framework”, according to information from Provence. Abortions cannot therefore be ruled out.
There remain questions around the conservation of these embryos. “We must determine if these storage conditions were respected before knowing if there is an infringement”, reported the public prosecutor to our colleagues.
