ABSTRACT
The topic of medically assisted procreation (“MAP”) continues to elicit strong reactions as these methods and techniques manipulate the beginning of human life, either under the form of reproductive cells or interventions on an embryo or foetus, and this inevitably gives rise to a number of ethical and legal questions. This study took inspiration from one of the most controversial recent rulings on MAP by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), which generated strong media attention and elicited criticism both in legal and bioethical circles, paving the way for a heated discussion. The popularization paradigm is highly applicable to the transfer of information from an institutionalized context of the ECtHR, represented by the final judgment, to the less regulated web-domain of legal blogs. As the global reach of blogs allows these texts to cover a vast readership, any dominant subjective representations of reality lay the groundwork for collective illusions.
