Social tensions generated by assisted human reproduction techniques in terms of filiation in Colombia

Abstract

In western society, the relationship of a child to his parents is fundamentally based on filiation by blood. Assisted reproductive technologies (ART) arises a number of social tensions related to how filiation is accurately able to account for the relationships an individual establishes with his relatives and society. Advances in ART and filiation tend to abandon the natural biological perspective, replacing it with the diversity inherent to social relations. This paper seeks to explain the social tensions that ART brings about to the biogenetic and the bilateral parenthood filiation model. Four social tensions will be examined: i) the symbolic weight of consanguinity ii) the inability of regulations to respond to current social reality iii) the dimensions of filiation for the ascendency of the static dimension despite the diversity of family dynamics where affiliate links are created, and finally iv) the recognition of socioaffectivity as a source to establish filiation.