Spain as an IVF destination
Spain, a holiday paradise and a dreamed country to live in for many people, has become the first option to today’s fertility patients who want to fulfil their dreams of having a child.
Being a modern and developed European country with the healthcare systems among the very best in the world, it offers safety, reliability and exceptionally high quality of IVF treatment standards. If you’re looking for the latest advances and techniques in IVF, you’ll find them in Spain. Relaxed laws and patient-friendly IVF regulations? It’s all there for you.
Egg donors are readily available what means that patients do not have to spend lengthy time on waiting lists. And last but not least, many international airports make it easy to fly in and out of from other countries and the language barrier is not a thing.
When it comes to IVF treatment costs, Spain obviously still ranks among top European destinations. However, thanks to a wide offer of quality clinics and impressive range of medical services, prices of IVF can significantly vary depending on your chosen place of treatment.
The Spanish cities most willingly chosen by IVF patients are Madrid, Barcelona, Alicante and Valencia.
Reasons to go to Spain for IVF
- The most often chosen IVF destination in Europe
- Recognised IVF clinics in excellent locations: Madrid, Barcelona, Alicante, Valencia
- Liberal legislation allowing for fertility treatment, regardless of marital status and sexual orientation
- Wide range of egg donors from different ethnic background
- Doctors with impressive work experience
- The possibility to combine one’s own fertility treatment with holidays in one of the world’s most desired destinations
IVF in Spain at a glance
IVF treatment options in Spain
- maximum age for a female patient is 50 (however, some clinics allow 52 year old women for treatment)
- single women are allowed for IVF treatment
- lesbian couples are allowed for IVF treatment (including ROPA method)
- gender selection is possible only for medical reasons
- a lot of clinics offer treatment to HIV positive patients
- IVF treatment is accessible to HCV/HBV positive patients in most clinics.
Spain is known for its quite liberal laws concerning Assisted Reproduction Technology. Any woman over 18 years old, who is fully responsible for her decision, can undergo IVF treatment, independently of her marital status and sexual orientation. Because of that, single women, married heterosexual and homosexual couples and registered heterosexual partners can equally qualify for assisted reproduction. There is, on the other hand, the legal limit concerning the maximum age for treatment and it’s 50 years old. However, if your individual circumstances allow, clinics can accept older patients to receive IVF treatment. It fits into the general trend of both Spanish and foreign women getting pregnant later in life.
It is important to mention here that in Spain it is possible to use the technique known as ROPA (Reception of Oocytes from Partner). It enables female same–sex couples to take part in the treatment and to conceive a child. One of them provides oocytes that are inseminated with the sperm of a donor while the other receives the embryos and becomes pregnant. Babies born using a ROPA treatment can be legally registered in Spain as having two mothers.
Egg donation (as well as sperm and embryo donation) is allowed and, in fact, it constitutes a significant part of the reproductive medicine in Spain. Eggs come only from healthy women between the ages of 18 and 34, who donate freely and without financial compensation. Egg donation is confidential what means that born children and recipients can receive general information about their donors but only provided that donors’ identity is not disclosed.
| IVF treatment in Spain | |
|---|---|
| Maximum patient age (woman) | 50 (Some clinics may accept older patients - up to 52 - based on individual circumstances) |
| IVF treatments for single women | Allowed |
| IVF treatments for lesbian couples | Allowed |
| Maximum number of embryos to transfer IVF with donor eggs | 3 |
| Maximum number of embryos to transfer IVF with own eggs | 3 |
| Anonymous egg donors | Yes |
| Non anonymous egg donors | No |
| Egg donor availability | Very good |
| Egg donor age | 18-34 |
IVF treatment costs in Spain1,2
| IVF costs in Spain1,2 | |
|---|---|
| Treatment option | Price range |
| IVF with own eggs program | €4,100 - €8,200 |
| IVF with donor eggs program | €5,900 - €11,000 |
| Medical consultation - visit / online (with doctor) | €150 - €250 |
| Donor sperm | €400 - €1,500 |
| Frozen embryo transfer (all embryos) | €1,300 - €2,200 |
IVF success rates in Spain
IVF own eggs success rates in Spain3
| IVF with own eggs success rates in Spain3 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Woman age | <34 | 35-39 | ≥40 |
| IVF with own eggs in Spain | 32.9% | 27.4% | 14.8% |
| ESHRE average in Europe | 29.0% | 24.2% | 12.9% |
IVF donor eggs success rates in Spain3
| IVF with donor eggs success rates in Spain3 | |
|---|---|
| IVF with donor eggs in Spain | 55.6% |
| ESHRE average in Europe | 50.3% |
Assisted Reproduction Law and Clinics in Spain – information for Patients
| Assisted Reproduction Law and Clinics in Spain – information for Patients | ||
|---|---|---|
| Resource | Available online? | Language |
| ART Legislation in country | Yes / Link>>> | Spanish |
| List of certified IVF Centers by independent national body | Yes / Link>>> | Spanish |
| Success rates published as per IVF center by independent national body | Yes / Link>>> | English / Spanish |
| National success rates published for country by independent national body | Yes / Link>>> | Spanish |
Institution and / or contact person for IVF patients in Spain
We asked Spanish Ministry of Health for information several times via email and phone. However, up to the publication date of this article we had not received any answer.
- Patients Enquiries Reports 2013-2019, Fertility Clinics Abroad Ltd., Edinburgh, August 2019.
- Patients Enquiries Report’s 2013-2019, IVF Media Ltd., Dublin, August 2019.
- De Geyter Ch., Calhaz-Jorge C., Kupka M. S., Wyns C., Mocanu E., Motrenko T., Scaravelli G., Smeenk J., Vidakovic S., Goossens V., The European IVF – Monitoring Consortium (EIM) for the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE): ART in Europe, 2014: results generated from European registries by ESHRE, Human Reproduction, Volume 33, Issue 9, September 1st 2018, pp. 1586-1601.
https://academic.oup.com/humrep/article/33/9/1586/5055580 - Report on the Regulation of Reproductive Cell Donation in the European Union. Results of Survey, European Commission, Health & Consumer Protection Directorate-General, Brussels, February 2006.
https://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_threats/human_substance/documents/tissues_frep_en.pdf - International Federation of Fertility Societies’ Surveillance (IFFS) 2019, Global Trends in Reproductive Policy and Practice, 8th Edition, Global Reproductive Health, Wolters Kluwer, March 2019, Volume 4, Issue 1, p. e29.
https://journals.lww.com/grh/FullText/2019/03000/International_Federation_of_Fertility_Societies_.3.aspx - A Policy Audit on Fertility. Analysis of 9 EU Countries, Fertility Europe, European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE), Evere, Grimbergen, March 2017.
http://www.fertilityeurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/EPAF_FINAL.pdf - Keane M., Long J., O’Nolan G., Farragher L., Assisted reproductive technologies: International approaches to public funding mechanisms and criteria. An evidence review, Health Research Board, Dublin, 2017.
https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/af2460-health-research-board-report-assisted-reproductive-technologies-inte/?referrer=/blog/publications/health-research-board-report-assisted-reproductive-technologies-international-approaches-to-public-funding-mechanisms-and-criteria-an-evidence-review/ - Assisted Reproductive Technology. Fertility Clinic Success Rates Report 2016, Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, October 2018.
ftp.cdc.gov/pub/Publications/art/ART-2016-Clinic-Report-Full.pdf - Präg P., Mills M., Assisted reproductive technology in Europe. Usage and regulation in the context of cross-border reproductive care, Families and Societies, Working Series Paper, Volume 43 (2015), Department of Sociology and Nuffield College, University of Oxford, Oxford, 2015.
http://www.familiesandsocieties.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/WP43PragMills2015.pdf
