Ethical questions and marginal problems in assisted reproduction
Körner, U.
Wiener Medizinische Wochenschrift 147(4-5): 94-98
1997
ISSN/ISBN: 0043-5341 PMID: 9190772 Document Number: 479053
Assisted reproduction is subject of ethical controversies as it depends very much on our understanding of both the human being and of individual dignity. The ethical and technical boundaries have changed very much over the last decades. The main focus of the debate until the eighties was to avert manipulation and hazards to human health (surrogate mothers, chimeras). Speculations which exceeded the real possibilities of biomedicine were common. Finally the technology was restrained by an ethical and legal framework: in Germany the parliament passed the "Embryo protection act" (Embryonenschutzgesetz). Since the beginning of the nineties the focus of ethical problems has shifted towards the legal overregulation, which is in fact hampering the application of helpful and humane technology, like for instance preimplantation diagnosis. Ethical discussion and analysis should be directed at regulations that promote the dignity of the individual as well as the search of consensus positions, which can live up to the realities of a pluralistic society.