L'utérus, la technique et l'amour is an elegant work of bioethics that addresses a myriad of questions about the possibilities and ramifications of births achieved through artificial uteruses, or ectogenesis.

Already several laboratories around the world are experimenting with artificial uteruses, or mechanical man-made wombs, external to the mother. The results of this technology are expected to emerge in the near future. But the consequences for the child are still unknown, as are those for the mother. Physically, the child's most salient trait would be the absence of a belly button. Emotionally, no one knows whether the developing fetus would receive quite the type of motherly connection it would need to thrive.

Philippe Descamps examines the ethical, social, legal, political, and religious implications of this innovation. He suggests the process remain grounded in medicine: along with in vitro fertilization and present incubators that keep premature babies alive, the artificial uteruses could be considered first and foremost as a medical technique able to compensate for reproductive difficulties, for instance, when the embryo cannot develop in the natural mother.