Ética de mínimos y éticas de máximos en el tema de los embriones criopreservados

Abstract

The paper reviews a brief history of empirical research in Latin America on assisted human reproduction techniques (with anthropological approach in Ecuador) and embryo donation (with bioethical approach in Chile and Peru). Then the paper focuses on some legal conditions in Costa Rica and Argentina as examples of restrictive laws that make it impossible to donate embryos in these countries, which contrasts with the permissive regulation in Brazil on this issue. It is analyzed the role played by religion to influence, in different ways, in creating legal frameworks for assisted reproduction. It is concluded that, with the example discussed, one of the great challenges of the current democratic state is not only to be plural and secular, but also defining the spaces of freedom and tolerance so that every citizen can exercise personal ethics that identifies best without the desire to impose it to others.