In vitro defiance

The executive decree reinstating the right to in vitro fertilization (IVF) in Costa Rica went into effect three months ago. But just one private clinic has applied and received authorization to perform the fertility procedure.

Costa Rica’s executive branch backed down Tuesday from a bill to regulate in vitro fertilization, saying it would wait for court rulings on the issue.

Six plaintiffs are asking Costa Rica's Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court to throw out a constitutionality challenge to an executive decree that would legalize in vitro fertilization in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica's public health care system and government attorney's office say President Solis' recent presidential decree legalizing in vitro fertilization, IVF, is illegal.

Two attorneys on Tuesday asked a human rights court to intervene on behalf of couples fighting Costa Rica's ban on in vitro fertilization, over a recent challenge to a decree that would legalize the procedure.

In the latest curve of Costa Rica’s roller coaster process to legalize in vitro fertilization, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court has thrown out several challenges to President Luis Guillermo Solís’ decree regulating the fertility procedure here. But before supporters can celebrate the news the president's decree still must overcome another challenge filed this week.

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.