In vitro defiance

Costa Rica’s government submitted an official report Thursday evening to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights about its progress in legalizing in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures.

Four legislators are challenging the IVF decree, arguing that it violates the right to life guaranteed by Costa Rica's constitution.

Fifteen years after the Supreme Court banned the fertility procedure, in vitro fertilization could be legal in Costa Rica as early as Friday.

They have fought for 15 years for the right to access in vitro fertilization in their home country, and last Thursday was supposed to be a happier day. That day, President Luis Guillermo Solís announced that a draft decree that would finally legalize IVF in Costa Rica was ready, after a long and frustrating battle.

President Luis Guillermo Solís presented draft language Thursday morning that would legalize in vitro fertilization 15 years after the procedure was banned in Costa Rica by the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court. The draft decree comes three years after the Inter-American Court of Human Rights — based in San José — ruled that the ban violated the human rights of infertile couples trying to conceive.

Major legislative victories were largely absent from this extraordinary session, the month-long period when the executive branch sets the Assembly’s agenda, but Casa Presidencial spun it as a success. According to a statement from Casa Presidencial, 36 of its 77 bills “advanced” and five reached the plenary for debate.