IACHR

Elizabeth Odio Benito, a Costa Rican lawyer and former vice president, has a long resume of accomplishments in international human rights and national government.

Costa Rica is (still) the only country in the Western Hemisphere to ban IVF.

Costa Rica is the only country in the Western Hemisphere to completely ban in vitro fertilization. Some 70 couples are suing the government for denying them the right to undergo the procedure, asking for compensation of up to ₡150 million each.

A draft currently pending discussion by members of the Legislative Assembly’s Social Affairs Committee has over 300 motions against its approval.

The complaints “seek to expose the government’s systematic failures in providing women with a protocol to handle therapeutic abortion requests when the health and lives of women are endangered.”

An attorney representing 22 couples involved in a legal dispute with the Costa Rican government regarding its failure to legalize in vitro fertilization has turned to the country's new ombudswoman, Monserrat Solano Carboni, for help.

Last week, ruling party presidential candidate Johnny Araya tried to claim the mantle of family values, accusing opposition candidate Luis Guillermo Solís of having a different position than that of his own Citizen Action Party. While the abortion question could prove combustible in Costa Rica, Araya is not well positioned to strike the match.

Despite being ordered by a human rights court to legalize in vitro fertilization, Costa Rican lawmakers can't even agree to a discussion of the bill.

In staging yet another protest, Costa Rica's Catholic Church aims to be heard during campaign season.

Doctors at a public hospital in Costa Rica refused to perform a therapeutic abortion last November, saying the woman's life was not at risk.