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SAN JOSE, January 7, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) In March 2000, Costa Rica became the only country in North or South America to prohibit in vitro fertilization. The Costa Rican constitution protects human life from conception to natural death. IVF is a procedure that necessitates the killing of many of the embryos created for the process.

Since the court decision that banned IVF, the Costa Rican government has been under constant fire for its pro-life policies. Now a group of eleven complainants and their doctor, Delia Ribas, will take the government to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to force the government to overturn the law.

On December 10th, the New York based abortion advocacy organization, the Center for Reproductive Rights, added its legal and financial support to the case. The Center’s website says that the case could affect laws regarding IVF all over North and South America.

Whatever the outcome, the case will reveal the threats posed by numerous international treaties that promote abortion and anti-family policies. The challenge will be taken out of the country in an attempt to overturn existing laws to conform to the anti-life agenda of the Cairo and Beijing UN conventions.

Costa Rica’s pro-life efforts have not been confined to its own country. The Costa Rican delegation attempted to introduce a complete ban on human cloning at the United Nations this past fall. Seventy-six percent of Costa Rica’s population is Catholic. International pro-abortion organizations have recognized that countries with a strong Catholic culture present the greatest threat to their population control goals.

Read LifeSiteNews.com special publication:  The Inherent Racism of Population Control

Read Previous LifeSiteNews.com coverage of Costa Rica’s pro-life stand: 

Costa Rica High Court Declares In-Vitro Fertilization Unconstitutional

United Nations Human Rights Chief Pressures Costa Rican President Over Abortion Language