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Cross-Border Reproductive Care Around the World: Recent Controversies

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Medical Tourism and Transnational Health Care

Abstract

The key arguments of this chapter are as follows:

  • Cross-border reproductive care (CBRC) is a worldwide phenomenon, but there is a lack of empirical data on patterns of movement and on the experiences of reproductive travellers. Several push and pull factors have been identified in preliminary data.

  • Assisted reproductive technologies are often culturally, religiously or ethically controversial. Both the technologies themselves and the convictions about them are evolving rapidly. Cross-border reproductive care adds to this complexity.

  • The ethical differences have led to legal diversity across the world. Patients are travelling from restrictive states to permissive states to make use of assisted reproduction. This leads to questions about law evasion, tolerance and the validity of certain restrictions.

  • Legal diversity has problematic consequences for gamete donation across borders or international commercial surrogacy. The laws of two countries are often not equipped to regulate the birth of a child from cross-border reproductive care. The issues of compensation, identifiability and exploitation all pose additional ethical challenges in cross-border situations.

  • It will be necessary to continue ethical reflection on cross-border reproductive care as the phenomenon develops further.

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Authors
  1. Wannes Van Hoof
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  2. Guido Pennings
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Cardiff Metropolitan University, UK

    David Botterill

  2. Ghent University, Belgium

    Guido Pennings

  3. NHTV Breda University, The Netherlands

    Tomas Mainil

Copyright information

© 2013 Wannes Van Hoof and Guido Pennings

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Cite this chapter

Van Hoof, W., Pennings, G. (2013). Cross-Border Reproductive Care Around the World: Recent Controversies. In: Botterill, D., Pennings, G., Mainil, T. (eds) Medical Tourism and Transnational Health Care. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137338495_7

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