Medically assisted procreation and fast-moving developments in science and law: ethical and legal issues in heterologous procreation in Italy

In Italy, a law on Medically Assisted Procreation was passed in 2004. In 2014 the Constitutional Court declared section 4 para. 3 of this Law to be unconstitutional in the part where it prohibits couples from accessing heterologous medically assisted procreation techniques if a condition which causes complete, irreversible sterility or infertility has been diagnosed. The fast-moving developments in science and law, and the deep implications that the application of new techniques − which involve in the context of procreation a third person − can have in terms of protection of health and not only, makes it appropriate to keep under review this area, taking into account the pronouncements of the European Court of Human Rights and regulations in European countries.