Cross-border reproductive care: an Ethics Committee opinion

Fertility and Sterility, Ethics Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, 2016

Abstract

Cross-border reproductive care (CBRC) is a growing worldwide phenomenon, raising questions about why assisted reproductive technology (ART) patients travel abroad, what harms and benefits may result, and what duties health-care providers may have in advising and treating patients who travel for reproductive services.

The factors that motivate patients to travel abroad for fertility care are varied, complex and often interrelated. The reasons for CBRC fall into four basic categories:

  • access,
  • cost,
  • regulation,
  • and privacy.

The delivery of CBRC does not invoke a duty to inform or warn patients about the potential legal or practical hazards that may accompany such care.

Cross-border care offers benefits and poses harms to ART stakeholders, including patients, offspring, providers, gamete donors, gestational carriers, and local populations in destination countries.

This document replaces the previous document of the same name, last published in 2013. Take off image by lattefarsan.

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