ABSTRACT
Reproductive technology may be assessed positively, insofar as it may contribute to human happiness. There will be a consensus, too, that this technology should meet criteria of safety, carefulness and openness, and that the parents in spe are so well informed that they can take their parental responsibility. Reproductive technology should in principle be limited to reproductive problems. The issue of the limits of reproductive technology can be approached from different angles. There is a constant pressure on science and technology to find solutions for problems in the field of human reproduction and of childlessness on one hand, and anxiety about the development of science and technology and the manipulation of die beginning of life on the other. From the Renaissance onwards there has been a ‘liberation movement’ of various branches of science from theology and philosophy and a development into an independent position of the sciences.
