Abstract

Technological innovations of the last fifty years have led society to deal with ethically sensitive issues regarding early life. In particular, despite their ontological differences, surrogacy, just like abortion in the near past, raises the resurgence of irreconcilable visions: the protection of the embryo and the reproductive self-determination. Legislators have to strike a balance between these two principles. The comparative analysis of how the legal systems of the western legal tradition have regulated abortion and surrogacy offers, from a diachronic perspective, an evident and clear continuity in considering as high priority the pregnant woman’s interest.