Fortpflanzung zwischen Natürlichkeit und Künstlichkeit

There are now many ways in which reproduction can be influenced. When natural boundaries are exceeded this means taking responsibility. The author reflects on what sort of action reproduction is meant to be and what kind of risks are associated with seeing reproduction as a manufacturing process. The nature of reproduction as a ‘good’ is then analysed. Against this backdrop the impact of individual starting points on the way persons see themselves and on the relationship between parents and their children is then considered, and some thought is devoted to the extent of reproductive freedom that might be seen as a right. Being natural has no inherent moral weight; it just has a normative function insofar as it can protect such ethically important ‘goods’ as freedom and equality.