COVID-19: A review and considerations for the resumption of activities in an IVF laboratory and clinic in Brazil.

COVID-19 has caused radical effects on the daily lives of millions of people. The causal agent of the current pandemic is SARS-CoV-2, a virus that causes symptoms related to the respiratory system, leading to severe complications. In the in vitro fertilization (IVF) universe, there are several protocols for infection control and laboratory safety. Some professional associations have issued guidelines recommending measures involving patient flow and IVF practices. This study presents a review and considerations for the resumption of activities in IVF laboratories and clinics in Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the guidelines and statements from professional organizations and societies in reproductive medicine.

"Human Life is Inviolable": Costa Rica's Human Rights Crucible.

The Costa Rican Constitutional Court banned in vitro fertilization in 2000, citing the inviolability of life. Conservatives hoped the ban would initiate a hemispheric movement to protect the unborn. But in 2012 the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that reproductive rights are human rights and that women's rights take precedence over embryo rights. The episode precipitated a national identity crisis: how could a country that supports universal health care be labeled a human rights violator as a result of its efforts to protect nascent human life? Expanding the health and human rights framework helps us appreciate how IVF became Costa Rica's human rights crucible.

IVF in Costa Rica.

For 16 years, Costa Rica was the only country in the world that banned IVF, after it had been successfully conducted from 1995 to 2000. It also has been the only country that banned IVF based on the argument that it protects the embryo. After years of conflict, the prohibition has finally been lifted and the first baby girl was born in March 2017. This paper recounts the judicial and legal struggles Costa Rica faced in order to reestablished its IVF program.

The Moderating Influence of International Courts on Social Movements: Evidence from the IVF Case Against Costa Rica.

Feminists and religious conservatives across the globe have increasingly turned to courts in their battles over abortion. Yet while a significant literature analyzes legal mobilization on abortion issues, it tends to focus predominantly on domestic scenarios. In this article, we consider the effects of this contentious engagement of pro-choice and anti-abortion movements in international human rights fora, asking what happens to social movement claims when they reach international human rights courts. We answer the question through a detailed description of a single case, Gretel Artavia Murillo et al. v. Costa Rica, decided by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in 2012 but with ongoing repercussions for abortion rights, given its authoritative interpretation of embryonic right to life. Through our analysis of Artavia Murillo, we show how legal mobilization before international human rights courts moderates social movement claims within the legal arena, as rivals respond to one another and argue within the frame of courts' norms and language.

A doação compartilhada de óvulos no Brasil sob enfoque do Direito e da Bioética / Egg sharing in Brazil from the legal and bioethical point of view

Este artigo analisa os aspectos jurídicos e bioéticos da prática médica da doação compartilhada de óvulos no contexto da Reprodução Assistida no Brasil. Trata-se de uma prática criada pela classe médica para auxiliar na obtenção de gametas femininos e beneficiar as pacientes que buscam alcançar a gravidez com assistência profissional (AU)

This paper examines the legal and bioethical aspects of medical practice of shared egg donation in the context of Assisted Reproduction in Brazil. This is a practice created by physicians to aid in obtaining female gametes and benefit patients seeking to achieve pregnancy with professional assistance (AU)

La persona y su dignidad al inicio de la vida: el concebido por técnicas de fertilización in vitro en Chile / A pessoa e sua dignidade no início da vida: o concepto obtido por técnicas de fertilização in vitro no Chile / Personhood and dignity at the beginning of life: the conceived by in vitro fertilization in Chile

El presente trabajo analiza algunos de los problemas que plantea en Chile el inicio de la vida del concebido por técnicas de fertilización in vitro. De allí surge la necesidad de normar la aplicación de esas técnicas con el fin de proteger la vida en cumplimiento del mandato constitucional. Es un estudio descriptivo e histórico a partir de la revisión de proyectos de ley chilenos que regulan la materia -directa o indirectamente- entre 1996 y 2013. Se concluye que es urgente regular un estatuto jurídico del concebido no nacido para una garantía integral efectiva de su vida.

The present study analyzes some of the problems encountered in Chile in the beginning of life of those conceived by in vitro fertilization. From these arises the need to norm the application of these techniques with the goal to protect life in compliance with constitutional mandate. This is a descriptive historical study grounded on the review of Chilean project laws regulating the issue -direct and indirectly- between 1996 and 2013. It is concluded that is urgent to regulate a juridical statue of the unborn conceived to guaranty the effective integrity of his/her life.

O presente trabalho analisa alguns dos problemas que apresenta no Chile o início da vida do concepto obtido por técnicas de fertilização in vitro. Dai surge a necessidade de normalizar a aplicação dessas técnicas com a finalidade de proteger a vida em cumprimento do mandato constitucional. É um estudo descritivo e histórico a partir da revisão de projetos de lei chilenos que regulam a matéria -direta ou indiretamente- entre 1996 e 2013. Conclui-se que é urgente regulamentar um estatuto jurídico do concepto não nascido para uma garantia integral efetiva de sua vida.

[Uterine subrogation: medical and legal aspects of the first legally supported case in Argentina]. / Subrogación uterina. Aspectos médicos y jurídicos del primer caso con sustento legal en la Argentina.

A woman aged 38 was referred to this center for surrogacy treatment, after subtotal ablation of her uterus due to a severe postpartum hemorrhage. Her hormonal profiles and ovarian structure were normal. The husband proved fertile and semen analysis was normal. The carrier, a woman 39 years old, fertile with two children of her own, and a long bonding friendship with the patient. After hormonal stimulation with gonadotropins and GnRH antagonist, six mature oocytes were obtained. These originated four embryos after in vitro fertilization, three of which were transferred to the carrier, achieving a singleton pregnancy which led to the birth of a normal child, now more than a year old. A lawsuit was filed after birth requesting the baby be registered with the biological parents name. The judge granted the request based on evidence and testimonies provided, international jurisprudence history and specification in Article 19 of the Argentine Constitution: "No inhabitant of the Nation shall be obliged to do what the law does not demand .nor be deprived of what it does not prohibit". This is an almost ideal example of the proceedings in a case of subrogation. However, we must always bear in mind the fact that in our country there is as yet no regulatory framework for these treatments, therefore there is a high probability of conflict.

Subrogación uterina: Aspectos médicos y jurídicos del primer caso con sustento legal en la Argentina / Uterine subrogation: Medical and legal aspects of the first legally supported case in Argentina

Una mujer de 38 años de edad fue derivada a nuestro centro para un tratamiento de maternidad subrogada, por haber sufrido la ablación subtotal de su útero a causa de una hemorragia puerperal grave. Su perfil hormonal y estructura ovárica eran normales. El esposo tenía fertilidad probada y un espermograma normal. La subrogante era una mujer de 39 años, fértil, con dos hijos propios y con un largo vínculo de amistad con la paciente. Luego de una estimulación con gonadotropinas y antagonista de Gn-RH se obtuvieron 6 ovocitos maduros por punción folicular, que originaron 4 embriones por fertilización in vitro. Tres de ellos evolucionaron y fueron transferidos a la subrogante, lográndose un embarazo único que concluyó con el nacimiento de una niña normal que ya tiene dos años cumplidos. Se inició una acción solicitando la inscripción de la beba ya nacida a nombre de los padres procreacionales. El juez finalmente la otorgó basándose en las pruebas y testimonios aportados, los antecedentes en la jurisprudencia internacional, y el hecho de que según el artículo 19 de la Constitución Nacional: "Ningún habitante de la Nación será obligado a hacer lo que no manda la ley, ni privado de lo que ella no prohíbe". Este es un ejemplo casi ideal de cómo se puede desarrollar un caso de subrogación. Sin embargo, hay que tener en cuenta que en nuestro país no existe aún un marco regulatorio para estos tratamientos, por lo que no queda exenta la posibilidad de conflicto.

A woman aged 38 was referred to this center for surrogacy treatment, after subtotal ablation of her uterus due to a severe postpartum hemorrhage. Her hormonal profiles and ovarian structure were normal. The husband proved fertile and semen analysis was normal. The carrier, a woman 39 years old, fertile with two children of her own, and a long bonding friendship with the patient. After hormonal stimulation with gonadotropins and GnRH antagonist, six mature oocytes were obtained. These originated four embryos after in vitro fertilization, three of which were transferred to the carrier, achieving a singleton pregnancy which led to the birth of a normal child, now more than a year old. A lawsuit was filed after birth requesting the baby be registered with the biological parents name. The judge granted the request based on evidence and testimonies provided, international jurisprudence history and specification in Article 19 of the Argentine Constitution: "No inhabitant of the Nation shall be obliged to do what the law does not demand .nor be deprived of what it does not prohibit". This is an almost ideal example of the proceedings in a case of subrogation .However, we must always bear in mind the fact that in our country there is as yet no regulatory framework for these treatments, therefore there is a high probability of conflict.

[Ruling of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the Case of Artavia Murillo et al (in vitro fertilization) v. Costa Rica; new hopes for the reproductive freedom in Latin America]. / La Sentencia de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, Caso Artavia Murillo y otros (Fecundación in vitro) vs Costa Rica; nuevas esperanzas para la libertad reproductiva en Latinoamérica.

Modern reproductive technology has not been completely accepted and, especially in-vitro fertilization, IVF has generated serious social, political and legal controversies in Latin America. We may distinguish two trends that show us the oppositions; on one hand, the primacy of the embryo's live and its protection during artificial reproductive process and on the other, the primacy of liberal access to assisted reproduction techniques. The debate came to the fore, after a ruling by the Costa Rica's Constitutional Chamber who banned de IVF in 2000. The damaged couples after fulfilling the process toward the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, present a petition to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The Court's sentence and its arguments will be the subject of these comments as well that will allow to considered that both of them should be considered as a very important step towards the construction of a secular liberal vision over the assisted reproduction in Latin America.

Human rights to in vitro fertilization.

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (the Court) has ruled that the Supreme Court of Costa Rica's judgment in 2000 prohibiting in vitro fertilization (IVF) violated the human right to private and family life, the human right to found and raise a family, and the human right to non-discrimination on grounds of disability, financial means, or gender. The Court's conclusions of violations contrary to the American Convention on Human Rights followed from its ruling that, under the Convention, in vitro embryos are not "persons" and do not possess a right to life. Accordingly, the prohibition of IVF to protect embryos constituted a disproportionate and unjustifiable denial of infertile individuals' human rights. The Court distinguished fertilization from conception, since conception-unlike fertilization-depends on an embryo's implantation in a woman's body. Under human rights law, legal protection of an embryo "from conception" is inapplicable between its creation by fertilization and completion of its implantation in utero.

Fecundación in vitro y derechos humanos / Fecundation in vitro and human rights

El autor brinda argumentos fundamentados en la dignidad humana contra la utilización indiscriminada de la fecundación in vitro, rechazando ésta práctica de quienes la justifican en base a los Derechos Humanos

Fecundación in vitro y derechos humanos / Fecundation in vitro and human rights

El autor brinda argumentos fundamentados en la dignidad humana contra la utilización indiscriminada de la fecundación in vitro, rechazando ésta práctica de quienes la justifican en base a los Derechos Humanos (AU)

Problemática jurídico-legal de la fertilización asistida: la persona y el comienzo de la vida / Juridical-legal problem of assisted fertilization: the person and the beginning of life

La biología y la medicina, a través de la ciencia y de la técnica, han llevado a modificaciones de la estructura familiar y social dicotomizadas de la estructura jurídica, trastocando los valores tradicionales sobre las personas, la procreación, la familia biológica, la filiación, etc. A los fines de una legislación hay que definir primero el status jurídico del embrión y tomar postura sobre si es o no una persona existencial. Esta pregunta se puede responder de diferentes maneras, de acuerdo a la postura a la que se adhiera, siendo la relevancia ética y jurídica de esa nueva vida diferetentes según los argumentos que se esgriman (AU)