Reproductive technologies: significance and questions about new ways to being parents

Abstract

The article, after considering some sociological models relative to the reproductive technologies, explains, according to the perspective of the people involved, and their relationship to one another, the act of conceiving a child as an ethical act. As a consequence, in the moral evaluation of the use of reproductive technology, it does not seem possible to avoid fundamental questions about the effects of such technology on the rights of all people involved (and, in particular, the child) and on the relationship between the people concerned. With reference to this, the article discusses the analysis of recent researches in the field, examining the problems of steriles couples and the impact of the reproductive technology on the relationship of the couple, on the shaping of the family and on the significance of being parents. Reproductive technology is not neutral and influences all relationships in the family. The last part of the article is dedicated to an indepth study of certains problems expecially concerned to the use of the technology of donating eggs and sperm.