The new laws ban the freezing of
pre-implanted embryos
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New laws making it more
difficult for couples to get fertility treatment
in Italy are starting to have an impact.
Since Italy's new fertility law was passed
five months ago, the success rate for treatments
has dropped from one-in-four to one-in-nine.
Catholic politicians across the political
spectrum supported the clamp down on Italy's
traditionally liberal approach to fertility
treatment.
But the laws are frustrating couples trying
for children.
Baby photos decorate the waiting room of
Italy's biggest state funded infertility clinic
at Milan's Regina Helena Hospital.
The pictures are a cheerful reminder of the
hundreds of success stories produced here.
Repeat procedure
But while the UK has recently relaxed its
laws on the genetic screening of embryos,
Italy now gives embryos the same rights as
citizens. This means no screening or freezing of
pre-implanted embryos; no sperm or egg donation;
no surrogacy or embryo research.
Critics say the law is medieval and damaging
to women.
"I'm so upset and frustrated about this law
as it limits my chances to have a child," says
34-year-old Francesca Muratori, lying in a
darkened room at the Milan clinic.
She has just had three embryos implanted.
"I actually produced 14 healthy
eggs," she explains. "Normally, in another
country you could fertilise them all, and find
out which are healthiest, but now with this law
I just have to take the first three."
Because no embryos can be frozen, Francesca
will face the whole procedure again soon if she
does not become pregnant.
"Undergoing ovarian stimulation and the pick
up of eggs is very painful," she says, trying
not to lift her head from the pillow. "It's a
process which affects your health and increases
risks from side affects. And as you can imagine,
the emotional side of this is also very tough."
Doctor Guido Rani, director of the fertility
unit, takes me on a tour through the pastel
coloured corridors of the hospital.
"This is where we kept frozen embryos," he
says, pointing into one room. "Obviously this is
now forbidden. But the ridiculous thing about
the law is that it suggests freezing
unfertilized eggs instead. Everyone knows
there's little medical research on this."
It is the ban on screening embryos for
disease that angers him the most.
"Couples who know they could be carriers of a
genetic disease have a 25% chance of passing it
on to an embryo," says Dr Rani. "Now it's
forbidden to screen an embryo before
implantation to find out if it has the disease.
But under Italian law it is legal to have a scan
during pregnancy and to abort a diseased foetus.
"It's a clear contradiction to ban the
screening of an eight cell embryo but later to
allow an abortion of a growing foetus up to 24
weeks old."
Fertility travel
For couples who want their embryos screened,
or who want donor treatments now banned in
Italy, there is only one option. It is called
fertility tourism, and is easier for the rich
than the poor.
Some clinics in Spain, Austria and
Switzerland are already reporting a 20% increase
in Italian patients. I spoke to several Italian
doctors who intend to set up practices just
outside Italy's borders this autumn.
The Italian government is giving
cash bonuses for second children
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"If this treatment doesn't work
then I will definitely go somewhere else," says
Francesca Moratori, who plans to join the new
boom in foreign fertility holidays.
"The UK has a more open mind towards
fertility and I'd like to go there."
Next stop on the tour of Milan's fertility
clinic is the research laboratory. Before the
law was passed, half of the unit's resources
were dedicated to research.
Dr Rani shakes his head.
"Now because the law says no embryo research
everything has stopped. Here we carried out
mainstream research in collaboration with
European partners. Our money comes from the
state so the research was pretty
uncontroversial."
It is the research done by a handful of
maverick doctors in private clinics which gave
Italy the reputation of the "wild west" of
fertility treatment. Doctors helped women over
60 become pregnant and claimed they were winning
the race to clone humans.
"It is clear that in the collective
imagination in Europe, Italy was the place where
everything was possible," says Christian
Democrat politician Dorina Bianchi.
Women's rights
She say Italy's reputation justified the need
for radical change and a radical law.
"Italy's grandmothers became mothers and
every uterus was for rent. This really wasn't a
positive image and we needed to take back
control. We believe an embryo as soon as it's
fertilised has the right to life. This is a
restrictive law, there's no doubt about it, but
we don't want to harm women's rights."
Scientists, intellectuals, and politicians
spearheading a referendum to try to overturn the
law disagree. They say the law damages women's
health and rights and is based on religion and
politics rather than science.
"It's really a big step backwards to consider
a fertilised egg more important than the
mother," says Fabrizia Giuliana, a university
lecturer.
"I'm worried that this law will lead to a
reopening of the debate on the abortion law."
Her fears may be well-founded. A senator in
Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party has
proposed a law limiting free abortions to one
per woman, after which they would be charged.
Demand for fertility treatment will continue
to rise in Italy. Women here, like the rest of
Europe, are having children later in life. With
the lowest birth rate in Europe, the Italian
government is giving cash bonuses for the birth
of a second child.
Yet its fertility law offers no rewards for
the thousands of couples who need fertility
treatment to have their first child.
It is clear that in the
collective imagination in
Europe, Italy was the place
where everything was possible
