Crossing borders for fertility care: Where should the line be drawn?

The prevalence of border crossing to access fertility services is currently unknown, although there is evidence of extensive international travel to access a wide range of services (Blyth et al 2011). The development of a robust systematic evidence base is hampered by some of the underlying reasons for cross border travel (especially where these relate to socially disapproved or illegal practices in either home or destination countries/jurisdictions) and the lack of regulation and record keeping in some key destination countries/jurisdictions. Consequently much of current evidence is piecemeal and based on the work of investigative journalists and anecdotal personal accounts. While more robust evidence is being generated, the nature of some of the activities associated with cross border travel pose significant methodological and ethical challenges for academic researchers