Paper short abstract:

This paper proposes an anthropological analysis of the Italian legislation regulating assisted procreation. It highlights the moral values legislators want to convey and the type of society they try to shape. It concentrates especially on the meanings of concepts like nature, reproduction and family in the context of this legislation.

Paper long abstract:

The diffusion of assisted reproductive technologies strongly challenge the notion of nature, especially in the field of human reproduction. As a result, the re-formulation of the concept of nature is a matter of concern to religious and scientific actors. However, as these technologies deal with the reproduction and maintenance of society (affecting kinship-relations and notions of body, substance, and sexuality), they also enter the sphere of competence of political actors, such as politicians and law-makers. The choices national and regional legislators make in the regulation of assisted reproduction can be seen as the expression of local, morally oriented answers to a globally available science.

This paper focuses on Italy, one of the most restrictive countries in Europe with regard to the legislation on assisted procreation. Following an anthropological approach, the paper seeks to analyze the actual Italian legislation on medically assisted procreation (Law 40 - February 19, 2004) in relation to the respective public debate. The objective of the analysis is to highlight the moral values legislators want to convey, the role they attribute to the law as a means of influencing social practices, and the type of society they try to shape. The paper concentrates especially on the meanings that concepts like nature, reproduction and family acquire in the context of this law and provides an overview of the legal, political and moral framework in which this law is conceived.

This paper builds on the master thesis I defended at the EHESS in June 2007, and forms part of my current PhD research at the EUI.