The European rights court Tuesday condemned Italy for its ban on screening embryos for genetic conditions, saying its laws leave couples wanting to avoid passing on diseases little room for manoeuvre.
![Europe Rights Court Criticizes Italy Ban on Embryo Testing Europe Rights Court Criticizes Italy Ban on Embryo Testing](https://images.medindia.net/health-images/1200_1000/screening-of-embryos-and-newborns.jpg)
According to the Strasbourg-based court, the case highlights "the incoherence of the Italian legislative system that bans the implantation of only healthy embryos while allowing the abortion of foetuses with genetic conditions."
The law "only gives the plaintiffs one option, full of anxiety and suffering," said the court. "Get pregnant naturally and then abort when a prenatal examination shows the foetus is affected" with a condition, ECHR said in a statement.
The Italian couple chose to abort their second child in 2010 after learning that their unborn foetus had the condition.
They then requested IVF treatment so doctors could check for traces of cystic fibrosis before going ahead with a new pregnancy, a process known as pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) which is illegal in Italy.
Italy argues that its laws protect the health of women and children and discourage deliberate genetic alteration that critics of PGD worry would lead to so-called "designer babies".
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Of 32 Council of Europe member states examined, only Italy, Austria and Switzerland ban PGD testing, the court said.
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