ABSTRACT
Adoption is highly recommened and should be considered as a serious alternative to in vitro fertilisation (IVF). Many ethical problems in IVF could be solved by technical advances on oocyte conservation. An authoritative source of ethical proposals in France is the Comite Consultatif National d’Ethique which was established by President Mitterand in 1983 in order to face the multiple dilemmas introduced by the rapid advances in scientific techniques. Hence ethical decision-making not only involves taking ‘right’ decisions, but also decisions in conformity with what society is ripe to appreciate, aware that these decisions may in turn foster new values or deleteriously modify social behaviour. In multicultural societies a diversity of beliefs, opinions and priorities coexist. In some countries religious rules are directly enforced, but in multicultural settings, technicians might ignore their patients feelings and the patients might dissimulate or misunderstand their own religious teachings. Most countries have a deontological medical code and a European medical code has been established.
