24 [t]he second thing I felt was that my privacy had been invaded. When I had to go abroad for treatment, it became obvious [that I was infertile]; at immigration, I even had to give financial reasons for why I was leaving the country: I’m leaving the country because I’m unable to get what I need in Costa Rica. Once abroad, I found myself in a completely alien environment […] I had the sense that what I was doing, what I was pursuing as a human being, was demonized. As a human being, I yearned for and wanted something to fulfill a part of my being, my partner’s being and my life. In Costa Rica, that ‘something’ came to be regarded as illegal, something unhealthy, something negative in every respect. I couldn’t understand it. This ruling forced me to look for help abroad. Thank God, I was able to get the treatment […] [t]here is a stage in life when one looks for one’s partner; if one is lucky enough to find that someone and go through life together, then one wants to have a family. This is the normal thing that happens when one loves someone else. If one doesn’t want a family, that’s one’s right; but if one does want a family, then it should be so. What about my desire to raise a family, to see the country move forward, to have the option to see the future in my children, to see those children become a source of pride for everyone, to see that family that I want, the love that I am ready to give, happen as it happens for so many people. I can’t understand why I and so many others were being denied this with such inconceivable cruelty. We were not just denied this opportunity at life; instead, what we wanted was depicted as something criminal. It’s not simply that I don’t understand this; I am offended, offended as a human being labeled as someone out to commit a crime, when in fact all I want to commit is an act of love, an act of discovery. This option is called the avenue of hope; for many people, it’s the only option there is; medically speaking, there was no other option […] This makes me wonder about myself; I’m questioning things that I ought not to question. Am I wanted here? Will my children be wanted here? Is my idea of being part of the community and of society so wrong? Isn’t it the same feeling that every person has? The only difference was that I was unable to get that by the means that for everyone else is so natural. But there is another way, one that is accepted and available everywhere. Whatever the regulations, the answer can’t be a simple “No”. That’s not right, because that means I’m not entitled to start a family, to have my health problem treated; because that means I don’t have a right to privacy, to fulfill my life’s plan with my partner, the plan that I make for myself or that he makes with me; the plan that so many others pursue. 115. Summarizing, the Commission considers that the rights at stake were not subject to some moderate restriction. Instead, the restriction was severe, to the point that it obviated any possibility of taking decisions on a matter pertaining to one’s private and family life and of exercising the right to found a family according to one’s own desires and aspirations. 116. The Commission observes, however, that the decision to create or implant human embryos has a social dimension and cannot be considered solely a private matter. The State may adopt proportional measures to protect human embryos from treatment inconsistent with the American Convention, such as wanton destruction, sale or trafficking. 117. By virtue of all the foregoing considerations, the Commission concludes that the Costa Rican State violated the rights recognized in articles 11(2) and 17(2) of the American Convention, in relation to the general obligations undertaken in articles 1(1) and 2 thereof, to the detriment of Gretel Artavia Murillo, Miguel Mejía Carballo, Andrea Bianchi Bruno, German Alberto Moreno Valencia, Ana Cristina Castillo León, Enrique Acuña Cartín, Ileana Henchos Bolaños, Miguel Antonio Yamuni Zeledón, Claudia María Carro Maklouf, Víctor Hugo Sanabria León, Karen Espinoza Vindas, Héctor Jiménez Acuña, Maria del Socorro Calderón P., Joaquina Arroyo Fonseca, Geovanni Antonio Vega, Carlos E. Vargas Solórzano, Julieta González Ledezma and Oriester Rojas Carranza.