ESHRE Task Force on Ethics and Law 15: Cross-border reproductive care

TLDR

Cross‑border reproductive care raises ethical concerns such as law evasion, unequal access, and professional responsibility conflicts. The paper examines the ethical aspects of cross‑border reproductive care and proposes recommendations to limit travel and ensure safety and quality. The authors discuss physicians’ duties—referral, information, counselling, and fee‑splitting—and recommend measures to reduce travel and safeguard treatment quality.

Abstract

This paper analyses the ethical aspects of cross-border reproductive care. Ethical questions are raised by some of the main reasons of cross-border travelling, i.e. law evasion and unequal access to treatment. The phenomenon also generates possible conflicts linked to the responsibility of the professionals. Three points are discussed: the moral obligation of the physician to refer the patient, his/her duty to provide information and counselling and the acceptability of fee-splitting. The recommendations focus on measures to reduce or limit the number of patients that have to travel abroad and on steps to guarantee the safety and quality of the treatment wherever it is provided.