Specification of an Unborn’s Right to Life in the Inter-American Human Rights System. An Approximation Based on the Artavia Murillo Case

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to examine the position on the right to life taken by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, based on an analysis of Artavia Murillo et al. (in vitro fertilization) versus Costa Rica. The case was decided on November 28, 2012 when the Court found the State had violated the American Convention on Human Rights by prohibiting assisted fertilization techniques and obliged the State to include them "in its infertility programs and treatments as part of health care". The article indicates the norms related to the case provided the Court with a number of logically possible alternative solutions, and the Court chose one of them based on questionable reasoning. Among other arguments, it discusses - as stated by the Court - the fact that scientific disagreements concerning the value of unborn life make it obligatory for those subject to the Convention to accept in vitro fertilization as a lawful practice they must promote.