Next week, judges will give their decision in an Italian human rights complaint brought by two carriers of cystic fibrosis who wish to have a child by in vitro fertilisation.
A ruling in the case Costa and Pavan v. Italy (application no. 54270/10) is scheduled to be delivered on 28 August at 10h (CET).
The applicants, Rosetta Costa and Walter Pavan, are Italian nationals who were born in 1977 and 1975 respectively and live in Rome.
They are healthy carriers of the genetic disease cystic fibrosis who want to have a baby by in vitro fertilisation, so that the embryo can be genetically tested before it is used to start a pregnancy.
Under Italian law, however, this is not permitted. Relying on Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life), they complain that the only course open to them is to start a pregnancy by natural means and medically terminate it every time the foetus tests positive for the disease.
Under Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination), they claim that they are the victims of discrimination compared with sterile couples or those where the man has a
sexually transmissible disease.
