Barbara Hewson highlights some recent trends in reproductive rights
On 28 August 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) published an interesting decision on Italy’s law on artificial insemination. The case, Costa v Italy (App No 54270/10), is striking: first, because it is a unanimous ruling in a sensitive area and, second, because of its trenchant distinction between the status of a “child” and an “embryo”.
The applicants are a couple who are healthy carriers of cystic fibrosis. They first discovered their status, after they had a daughter in 2006, who was diagnosed with the disease. Understandably, the couple were anxious to avoid having further children similarly afflicted. When Ms Costa became pregnant again in 2012, she underwent antenatal screening and the baby was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. The couple decided to terminate that pregnancy. They then sought to have a baby by “in vitro fertilisation” (IVF), but wanted to have the embryo genetically screened prior to implantation. This is called “pre-implantation diagnosis” (PID).
Interference
Italian law prohibits PID, so the couple complained to the ECtHR, alleging a breach
