ABSTRACT
Since the first successful case of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) in 1978 and its extension to genetic diagnosis, a multiplication of technological and medical possibilities often far removed from the initial scientific discovery has been initiated. Not only can the eggs and sperm of a specific married couple be used for fertilisation but a variety of possible new techniques in assisted reproduction resulting from the IVF process are now present. With the assistance of these new reproductive possibilities towards childlessness being generally recognised as progress, they have, nonetheless, created extensive new ethical problems for our societies. Moreover, no discussion concerning embryology is possible without also examining the diverging and controversial status of parenthood and the status of the human embryo. Though comprehensive debates concerning what should be permissible and where an uninfrigeable moral line should be drawn regarding these techniques have begun, most governments in Europe are still trying to find a legislative solution to the complex ethical problems being studied.
