From March 2016 In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) is now legal in Costa Rica, reversing the ban of 16 years.

Recently on 9 March 2017, Maria José, the first IVF baby born since the ban, was welcomed in CIMA Hospital.

Way back in November 2012, the San José-based Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IAHCR) ordered Costa Rica to lift the ban on IVF.

The ruling came as a response to complaints filed before the court by several infertile couples and overturned the ruling which banned IVF in Costa Rica in 2000. In 2000 the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV) justices stated that the procedure violated human life because of the number of fertilized eggs that are discarded during the process.

IVF providers had to wait for the drafting and approval of a Ministry of Health decree outlining all legal and scientific requirements, amongst them the certification process for private clinics.

President Luis Guillermo Solís signed an executive decree to reinstate IVF on 10 September 2015 and the ban officially ended in March 2016 when the IACR ruled that the executive decree had complied with its ruling.

The first IVF procedures were applied June 2016 and Centro Fecundar is one of the first clinics in Costa Rica to be certified by the Costa Rican Ministry for Health. Prior to that, Centro Fecundar offered IVF for 15 years at their sister clinic in Panama.

The basic IVF procedure costs $4800 at Centro Fecundar, excluding medications.

To contact Dr Ariel Perez directly at Centro Fecundar, click Contact Provider at the link.