Is the desire for a child too strong? or Is there a right to a child of one’s own?

In this chapter, the author describes his uneasiness concerning the ethical approach appropriate to normative problems in connection with the phenomenon of infertility. He offers nothing more than some tentative comments on the oscillating movements between an ethics of rights and an ethics of desire. Infertility and the desire for a child seem to be first of all medical and psychological problems – independent from ethical and legal considerations. Infertility would therefore be an obstacle that has to be overcome if the technical means are given. The justification of the moral right to assisted procreation implies that infertility could be regarded as a disease comparable to other pathological facts. A differentiated analysis of rights and duties in the field of sterility and treatments of infertility shows the limits of ethical argumentation because there can be no medical or social management of strong desires.