Concept
Fertility tourism (also referred to as reproductive tourism or cross border reproductive care) is the practice of traveling to another country or jurisdiction for fertility treatment, and may be regarded as a form of medical tourism. A person who can become pregnant is considered to have fertility issues if they are unable to have a clinical pregnancy after 12 months of unprotected intercourse. Infertility, or the inability to get pregnant, affects about 8-12% of couples looking to conceive or 186 million people globally. In some places, rates of infertility surpass the global average and can go up to 30% depending on the country. Areas with lack of resources, such as assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs), tend to correlate with the highest rates of infertility. The main procedures sought are in vitro fertilization (IVF), artificial insemination by a donor, as well as surrogacy. These methods are types of assisted reproductive technology (ARTs). Each of these three methods have varying popularity in different countries, with one method being more sought after in these destinations compared to another method in another country. People are mainly driven towards fertility tourism due to lack of resources and high costs, while other contributing factors include cultural, religious, legal, and safety and efficacy issues. Other impacts on the need for fertility treatments from other countries include those who are infertile, single, of older age, or identify as a part of the LGBTQIA+ community. With these rising conditions, people end up having to travel to other countries in order to get the fertility treatments not accessible to them in their home countries. About 20,000 to 25,000 women (often accompanied by their partners) annually seek cross-border assisted reproductive technology (ART) services. Some countries are more popular than others as IVF destinations due to higher success rates and fewer regulations. Even small countries such as Barbados provide JCI-accredited IVF treatment aimed at women from abroad.
Omid Mashinchian, Morteza Mahmoudi