French Nurse Rents out Breasts to Gay Parents

A French nurse has placed an advertisement to rent out her breasts for parents who cannot breast-feed their babies. The woman is offering her services for €100 (£86) a day.

The "young mother who is in good health" has put out the advertisement targeting gay couples.

The 29-year-old has caused a stir in France following the proposal as the European nation is divided over the gay marriage bill, which was passed earlier this year amid protests.

The advertisement has been posted under the username "cecelia232" on the e-loue.com website. The post titled "Breast rental - breast-feeding - Boulogne", offers services in one of the neighbourhoods on the outskirts of Paris.

"I am a young mother in full health, a trained nurse, 29 years old, and I'm renting out my breasts to feed young babies. In one day I can offer you up to a dozen feeds for your baby. Gay men in couples are not able to breastfeed their babies.... Breastfeeding allows babies to be in good health. Basically, breast milk gives them complete nutrition," the post says.

The moderators of the website were reportedly taken aback by Cecelia's advertisement initially. The website reportedly contacted her to confirm whether the offer was genuine.

"Contact me through the site. Don't bother if you're not serious," she says.

It is unclear if renting out breast milk is legal under French law as experts are divided on the opinion. It has also potentially raised questions over infection from the woman to children.

In 2011, in a similar incident when breast milk was attempted to be sourced through Facebook, Professor Jean-Charles Picaud, president of the French Association of Human Milk Banks, and Professor Pierre-Henri Jarreau, president of the French Society of Neonatalogy, released a joint statement saying: "These risks are mainly infectious, because the milk can be contaminated by bacteria or viruses."