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.

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.

Filmmaker Gabriela Quirós has been following three families for more than 10 years as they fight for the right to have a child via in vitro fertilization in Costa Rica. Her documentary “El Deseo Más Grande” airs Saturday on the UCR's Channel 15.

President Luis Guillermo Solís alerted lawmakers Wednesday that if they did not take action to legalize in vitro fertilization by Sept. 3, he would.