Are Spanish regulators constraining human procreative demands?

Abstract

The Spanish regulatory framework related to assisted reproduction technologies (ART) is relatively permissive, and the country has become the leading one in that field in Europe, as well as a privileged destination for patients coming from other countries seeking heterologous treatments. An intensive exchange of tissue and cells is taking place worldwide, and it is desirable to maintain global standards. While broad legislation arises from European Union (EU) directives, in a way to maintain common standards that may reassure the public that human tissues and cells procured in other Member states carry the same guarantees as those in their own country, significant regulatory barriers to exercise procreative rights have been experienced recently in Spain through stricter interpretation by the actual public regulators, especially affecting biological sample distribution and its import or export. The issue is to establish a pattern of interaction among the subjects involved (politics, administrations, inspectors) to address the legal requirements and social needs guided by uniform regulation and clear engagement in practice.