[Wanting a child]

To want a child and to want to have a child are notions receiving renewed interest ever since the generalization of contraception and even more recently, the new methods of procreation. These two notions are compared and tested against biological data across historical, psychoanalytic and sociological works. A brief resume of research done with mothers of newborns underlines the ambiguity and the complex and dynamic character of the question. The desire for a child and the desire to have a child are different notions and one should discriminate between them.