Ethical and legal concerns: reproductive technologies 1990-1993

After the rapid increase in reports, bills, and regulations on assisted reproductive technologies (ART) in the 1980s, the first 3 years of the 1990s reveal a continuation of this trend notably in three major aspects. First, a certain consistency has developed in terms of the conditions of accessibility to ART, the definition of infertility, the terms of donation, and the primacy of social filiation, so that anonymity remains controversial. Second, the importance of protection of genetic material has been reaffirmed with regard to gamete and embryo conservation, embryo research, and, in particular, the acceptability of preimplantation diagnosis. Finally, the framework of practices concerning accreditation and control, organization of national data, and management of nominative information has been increasingly refined.