The facts of the case refer to the prohibition of in vitro fertilization established following a decision of the Supreme Court of Justice in 2000, which declared unconstitutional the decree which regulated this practice.

The IA Court analyzed the restrictive interpretation carried out by the Costa Rican Supreme Court of article 4 of the American Convention, which consecrates the right to life, as well as analyzing the absolute prohibition of access to in vitro fertilization. The IA Court stated that the embryo cannot be considered a “person” under the terms of article 4 of the Convention, but established the principle of the gradual and incremental weighting of prenatal life.

The IA Court considered both the restriction of the rights made in the case, in particular the right to privacy, the right to intimacy and reproductive autonomy, and the importance of the protection of the embryo, thus concluding that the aforementioned restriction was disproportionate and discriminatory in this case.