10

The purpose of the article is to examine if attention to the suffering of human beings can be a reliable guide for the development of a universal ethics. This general question is considered by taking the example of the suffering caused by the anonymity in gamete donation in medically assisted procreation techniques by third party donors, at a time when, after more than twenty-five years of practice, the French National Assembly is preparing to change this principle. The article first describes the process of elaboration and revision of this principle in the French ethical and legal debates, and then considers the possibility of defining a fundamental right to know the third party donor. Finally, it analyzes some conditions for taking this suffering as a way of searching for a universal ethics.