CHAPTER 3: MEDICALLY ASSISTED PROCREATION AND THE PROTECTION OF THE EMBRYO IN VITRO IN INTERNATIONAL CASE LAW

Abstract

After 30 years of development, the New Reproductive Technologies have not only been acknowledged as an acceptable method to alleviate human infertility but they must also be regarded as an example of the importance of techno science as a fundamental tool of social and cultural transformation.
Examining the international case law regarding the protection of the embryo in vitro, I would like to look on 3 examples, which describe the diversity and the complexity of the present situation. All of them focus on the application of regional instruments or legislation by “supra” national jurisdictions: two are dealing with European law and the third one concerns the application of the Inter American Convention on Human Rights. We can then see that the scope of the protection depends on the definition given to the embryo.