In Western societies, the development of new reproductive technologies (NRT) pushes the limits of the parentage model based on “exclusive bilaterality” (the idea that every individual can have only one mother and one father, from an ascending generation, and from opposite sexes) and the idea that parentage needs to reflect nature as closely as possible. In this article, the researchers show the ambivalent nature of the effects of NRT on the Western parentage model by examining the current state of NRT and by performing an exercise in “sociological fiction” where there is an artificial uterus. Minority views on parentage will not change overnight just because NRT may provide technological solutions to problems that previously seemed unsolvable. There is no such thing as technological determinism. With NRT, parentage has become a political issue.

• parenthood
• new reproductive technologies
• reproduction
• uterus

http://journals.openedition.org/efg/715