Nedescu v. Romania
Country: RomaniaYear: 2018
Court: The European Court of Human Rights
Citation: Application No. 70035/10
Health Topics: Health care and health services, Hospitals, Sexual and reproductive health
Human Rights: Right to family life, Right to privacy
The applicants are husband and wife and wanted to try assisted reproduction at a private clinic. The applicant’s embryos were obtained and freezed for future use by the applicant. A criminal investigation led to the closure of the said clinic. During that process, all genetic material including the applicant’s embryos were transferred to a forensic …Read more
Paradiso and Campanelli v. Italy
Country: ItalyYear: 2017
Court: The European Court of Human Rights
Citation: ECHR 034 (2017)
Health Topics: Child and adolescent health, Health care and health services, Sexual and reproductive health
Human Rights: Right to family life, Right to privacy
The applicants are husband (Campanelli) and wife (Paradiso). After unsuccessful attempts at having a child, they registered themselves as prospective adoptive parents and obtained court approval to adopt a foreign child. Due to delays in the adoption, the applicants decided to resort to surrogacy arrangements. A surrogate mother was found in Russia and the applicants …Read more
Parrillo v. Italy
Country: ItalyYear: 2015
Court: European Court of Human Rights
Citation: Application No. 46470/11
Health Topics: Sexual and reproductive health
Human Rights: Right to life, Right to privacy, Right to property
The applicant, Parrillo, claimed that a legislative ban preventing her from donating embryos conceived in vitro to scientific research violated her rights to respect for private life and peaceful enjoyment of her possessions under Article 8 and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental …Read more
The Queen (on the application of IM and MM) v. Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority
Country: United KingdomYear: 2015
Court: High Court of Justice, Queen’s Bench Division, Administrative Court
Citation: Case No. CO/3077/2014; [2015] EWHC 1706 (Admin)
Health Topics: Chronic and noncommunicable diseases, Informed consent, Sexual and reproductive health
Human Rights: Right to family life
The issue of the case was whether AM, deceased daughter of IM and MM, gave sufficient informed consent to export her gametes to the U.S. to be fertilized there using a donor selected by her parents and used in the treatment of in vitro fertilization of her mother, IM. Even if it found that AM …Read more
Radu v. The Republic of Moldova
Country: MoldovaYear: 2014
Court: European Court of Human Rights
Citation: Application No. 50073/07
Health Topics: Health information, Hospitals, Sexual and reproductive health
Human Rights: Right to privacy
The plaintiff was a lecturer at the Police Academy in Moldova. In 2003, she became pregnant through artificial insemination. Due to her increased risk of miscarriage, a doctor at the No. 7 Center for Family Doctors (“the CFD”), a state-owned hospital, ordered her hospitalization. This extended hospitalization caused her to be absent from work. The …Read more
Case of Mennesson v. France
Country: FranceYear: 2013
Court: The European Court of Human Rights
Citation: Application No. 65192/11
Health Topics: Child and adolescent health, Sexual and reproductive health
Human Rights: Right to family life
The applicants are husband and wife who opted for a surrogacy arrangement in California as the second applicant had infertility issues. The Supreme Court of California ruled that the first applicant would be the genetic father and the second applicant would be the legal mother of any child the surrogate mother gave birth to within …Read more
Knecht v. Romania
Country: RomaniaYear: 2013
Court: European Court of Human Rights
Citation: [2013] ECHR 10048/10
Health Topics: Health care and health services, Sexual and reproductive health
Human Rights: Right to family life, Right to privacy
The applicant, Knecht, is an American and German national. In 2008, she used the “S. Clinic” in Bucharest to store embryos. However, S. Clinic’s authorization from the National Transplant Agency (NTA) to function as a genetic bank was under criminal investigation. In July 2009, the Directorate for the Investigation of Organised Crime and Terrorism attached …Read more
Artavia Murillo et al. v. Costa Rica
Country: Costa RicaYear: 2012
Court: Inter-American Court of Human Rights
Health Topics: Sexual and reproductive health
Human Rights: Freedom from discrimination, Right to family life, Right to privacy, Rights to the benefits of culture
This case alleged human rights violations resulting from Costa Rica’s prohibition on the practice of in vitro fertilization (“IVF”), which had been in effect in Costa Rica since 2000, following a ruling of the Constitutional Chamber of the Costa Rican Supreme Court of Justice (“Constitutional Chamber”) in which it was held that IVF violated the right to …Read more
Costa and Pavan v. Italy
Country: ItalyYear: 2012
Court: European Court of Human Rights
Citation: Application No. 54270/10
Health Topics: Chronic and noncommunicable diseases, Sexual and reproductive health
Human Rights: Right to family life, Right to privacy
Following the birth of their first child, the applicants, Costa and Pavan, discovered that they were carriers of cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease. Their child was born with the disease. A prenatal test confirmed that their second child was also affected by cystic fibrosis. They decided to terminate the pregnancy on medical grounds. The applicants …Read more
Case Р-673/2011
Country: BelarusYear: 2011
Court: Constitutional Court
Health Topics: Sexual and reproductive health
Human Rights: Right to family life, Right to health
Exercising its preliminary control duties, Constitutional Court of the Republic of Belarus, considered the constitutionality of amendments to the Law of the Republic of Belarus on Auxiliary Reproductive Technologies. This law regulated various assisted reproductive treatments. Such treatments were available to women over the age of 18 if they had full legal capacity, had undergone …Read more