Abstract

The unborn human life hangs in the balance between being and not being: It deserves to be protected, but this is a variable protection, dependent not on norms themselves but on the way in which they are interpreted and adapted to circumstances. Often, such variable protection is meant to promote values and models of life that have nothing to do with the unborn child. One of these stereotypes (a central theme in Francesca Zanuso's reflection is the analysis of "endoxa", i.e., general fixed ideas) is the right to desire. Is there a right to desire? Does this right imply the right to bear or beget a child at any cost?