WUNRN
"With
this decision, the court has reaffirmed that all individuals, not only in Costa
Rica but throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, cannot be barred from
having access to in vitro fertilization."
INTER-AMERICAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS
DECLARES COSTA RICA'S BAN ON IN-VITRO FERTILIZATION A HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION
12.21.12 - Costa Rica’s longstanding
ban on in-vitro fertilization—which has barred countless individuals from
building their families for almost 12 years—is set to come to an end. The
Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled today that Costa Rica’s ban of the
reproductive health technology violated the right to privacy, the right to
liberty, the right to personal integrity, and the right to form a family, as
recognized under international law. The court also found that obstructing
access to reproductive health services violated the right to be free from
discrimination.
With this decision, the court has reaffirmed that all individuals, not
only in Costa Rica but throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, cannot be
barred from having access to in vitro fertilization. The
Inter-American Court of Human Rights is the highest human rights court in the
Americas and the ruling in this case is final and binding for all 22 countries
that have accepted the jurisdiction of the court.
“We commend the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for upholding the right of
individuals to make their own decisions about their reproductive health and
future,”said Lilian Sepúlveda, Director of the Global Legal Program at the
Center for Reproductive Rights. “With this decision, the court sends the strong
message that assaults on reproductive rights will not be tolerated.”
In its judgment, the court concluded that embryos cannot be given absolute
rights and that, while embryos are protected, such protection must be gradual
and incremental following their development. The Court also stressed that this
protection must always be proportional to the protection of human rights.
The court ordered Costa Rica to legalize in-vitro fertilization within the next
6 months, to regulate all aspects of in-vitro fertilization to ensure
implementation and provide free mental health services for the victims in this
case. It also ordered the State to implement continuation education courses and
training on reproductive rights for judicial officials throughout the country.
In 2000, the Costa Rican Constitutional Chamber ruled that in-vitro
fertilization was unconstitutional. Interpreting the right to life provision in
Costa Rica’s constitution as beginning at the moment of conception, it granted
personhood—full legal rights and protections—to fertilized eggs. Given that not
all fertilized eggs fully develop, those eggs are never transferred. The
chamber understood the act as discarding human beings, and it banned the
reproductive health technology. As a result, 10 Costa Rican couples and a
fertility clinic filed a petition against the absolute ban before the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in 2004.
The Center for Reproductive Rights has been involved in this case from the
start. The Center filed two amicus briefs in support of the case before the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and another two before the Inter-American
Court of Human Rights, asserting that the ban conflicts with the country’s
obligation to protect and respect women’s human rights. In the latter stages of
the case, the Center also worked closely with one of the petitioners’
lawyers—providing key ongoing technical assistance—and led international
support efforts by encouraging national and international human rights
organizations and experts to file additional amicus briefs for the case.
In Latin America, court decisions granting personhood to fertilized eggs have
been responsible for extreme restrictions on access to emergency contraception,
which have been widely recognized by international and regional human rights
bodies, including the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, as violations
of a woman’s ability to exercise her fundamental rights. Personhood laws have
also been responsible in countries like Chile, Dominican Republic, El Salvador,
Honduras and Nicaragua, for absolute bans on abortion, even when a woman’s
health or life is at risk.
“The Inter-American Court of Human Rights reaffirmed today that every person
has a right to choose whether to have children or not, as well as the number
and spacing of their offspring, and that States must not ever interfere with
that right,” said Alejandra Cárdenas, Legal Advisor for Latin America and the
Caribbean at the Center for Reproductive Rights.