The new law on assisted reproduction (LPMA), entered into force in 2001, sets a maximum preservation duration of frozen embryos (zygotes): after five years, couples must decide whether they want to use their embryos for a pregnancy or dispose of them. One year prior to the deadline for decision, the research team met nine couples whose embryos were cryopreserved, in two interviews aimed at accompanying them in their decision. The analysis of their discourse reactivated in-depth questionings for these couples, and shed light on complex representations of frozen embryos.
This study was undertaken by Dominique Laufer (child psychiatrist) and Véronique Mauron (visual art historian), in the framework of a research conducted by François Ansermet (child psychiatrist and psychoanalyst) and Marc Germond (gynecologist) in the context of assisted reproduction technologies (ART). A book on the issue is in the writing, which will report the essential considerations in the discourses and the findings of the research, under the working title: Voyage en zygotie. Le devenir des embryons cryoconservés.