Modern reproductive medicine – The process of liberalization as a challenge to freedom

Walter Schaupp

Abstract

The adjustments made in 2015 to the Austrian Law on Reproductive Medicine represent a step towards a liberalization in matters of reproductive medicine, permitting different techniques and applications, but at the same time setting certain limits. The new law serves as an opportunity for generally reflecting on the dynamics in liberal societies and the durability of once determined boundaries in modern states. Although certain techniques remain prohibited in the home country, they are usually provided in some other countries and will thus be “available”. Consequently, the challenge for an ethical reflection is increasingly shifting to the question as to how individuals on their own responsibility will deal with the growing options of reproductive medicine. A responsible handling needs to face the fact that reproductive medicine will have a profound effect on the biographies of present and future human beings. Unlike it is often stated, reproduction and procreation always have a holistic dimension and will sooner or later involve the concerned individuals not merely on a physical, but also on an emotional and personal level. Therefore, an individual ethics of responsibility must not only relate to those consequences which are immediately visible and accessible, but needs to develop a much more comprehensive approach. In addition, it needs to be aware of the escalation tendencies inherent in these techniques, and of the danger that there might be taken steps which in retrospect clearly seem unjustifiable to the subjects involved.