Patient pressure: is the tide of cross-border reproductive care beginning to turn?

Two important explanations exist for cross-border reproductive care: restrictive legislation at home and limited access to affordable treatment. Both have recently been subject to patient pressure, favouring domestic and not cross-border services. The oppressive effect of regulation has been best illustrated in Italy, where legislation introduced as Law 40 in 2004 imposed restrictions on embryo freezing and embryo selection. After a decade of legal challenges by patients, the components of Law 40 have now been deemed unconstitutional in Italy. Similarly, a paucity of donor gametes in the UK has left many patients with few options but to seek donors and treatments overseas. Yet new techniques of donor recruitment and a revised allowance of compensation now means that some UK clinics can meet all requirements for donor gametes and patient matching from their own resources.