Bioethics in France

International audienceMost of the bioethics literature published in France during the 1991 1993 period concerns concepts that are prominent in bills currently being considered in Parliament: the notions of human body and human person; the categories of donation, gratuitousness, dignity and consent; and the principles of inviolability ('immunité') and indisposability (or unavailability) ('indisponibilité') of the human body. Some of the literature deals with the more formal problems raised by attempting to translate bioethics into bio law. This essay will follow the sequence of topics requested by the editor but will assemble them under three headings: (1) life, (2) health and society, and (3) death. We will emphasize the major influence that the preparation of legislative bills has had on ethical reflections and discussions during the last two years