This article discusses social representations of two practices related to the new reproductive technologies or assisted reproduction techniques. During in vitro fertilization, the transfer procedure of a woman's fertilized egg to another woman separates genetic motherhood from gestational motherhood. Two practices relate to that: in egg donation the pregnant woman is considered the mother, while in surrogate gestational motherhood the mother is the egg donor or the woman who planned the gestation. The focus is in the analysis of the representations of egg donation and surrogate motherhood in juridical discourse and in texts from the Brazilian press, considering also ethnographic articles. The opposition between Nature and Culture is a key for understanding the different reception of these practices.
New Reproductive Technologies; Surrogate Motherhood; Egg Donation; Motherhood; Kinship