Constant advances in perinatal medicine in industrialized countries have raised challenging ethical dilemmas The public is interested in how and to whom health care is provided. This public awareness has led to a growing need for the medical profession to be fully aware of the public\'s views on issues of human rights, social structure and health care policies, and how these affect the physician\'s daily practice. Many believe that the physician should not be left alone to make decisions of an ethical nature. This has prompted the development of ethics committees in institutions and by governments and international bodies. The ethical committees issued guidelines concerning the end of life in the neonatal period and euthanasia, neonatal palliative care, parental information, and issues related to the limits of viability. These recent guidelines are characterized with attitudes favoring palliative care and discouraging active ending of life on neonates in situations with extremely poor neurocognitive prognosis. Around the limits of viability, a grey zone is defined over the 24-25 weeks gestational age period, during which various options are discussed, in compliance with the basic principle of the preservation of the individual rights of each infant. This article provides an overview of hospital ethics committees, national ethics committees, and international ethics committees, with a focus on the ‏International Federation of Obstetricians and Gynecologists–FIGO ethics committee and the documents it has produced.