Baby industry offers fertility 'package holidays'

COPENHAGEN - Couples wanting babies are criss-crossing the globe in search of treatment for infertility.

Dutch women travel to Belgium for sperm donation because there is a shortage in their own country. Donated egg recipients cross the border because it is not allowed in Germany.

Lesbian couples travel from France to get treatment that is not available to them in their own country, while Italians are going abroad because their country has the strictest fertility law in Europe, according to Professor Guido Pennings of Ghent University in Belgium.

The cause is a combination of declining natural fertility, rapid scientific advances in treatment, and a mix of national regulations as countries struggle with the ethics of it all.

Thousands of patients are travelling abroad for treatment, Pennings said. Belgium, Switzerland and Spain are among the most popular European nations for conception tourism.

For sex selection treatment, many couples favour the United States and Jordan. Spain is popular for people seeking egg and sperm donors, he added.

Clinics are even offering fertility packages.

"They arrange your visa. They arrange your hotel. They arrange anything. It is all included in the price. It is a way to make patients comfortable," said Pennings.

- REUTERS