Autorité, désir d'enfant et assistance médicale à la procréation

This article focuses on the relations which exist between the contemporary question of the legitimacy of authority, as has been examined in several recent learned essays, and the desire for a child in the infertile couple, with as a corollary, the often proposed palliation of medically assisted reproduction. The relatively effective biotechnological tools currently available for medically assisted reproduction have had a radical impact on the acceptability of human limitations. The non-acceptance of limitations other than those set by oneself has made medically assisted reproduction just one more step in the quest for complete control of human reproduction. This individualist approach makes the birth of a child a simple matter of desire. In this context is parental authority still legitimate? If the ultimate “authority” is desire, as demonstrated by the child's birth, how can parents oppose a child's desire? Why should one (the parents') “desire-authority” override another (the child's)?