Turkey has become a favourite destination for Western couples looking for low-cost in-vitro fertilization treatment. It attracts both American women, who cannot afford an IVF cycle in their own country [1], and European women, who do not have access to MAR in their country due to waiting lists or legislation. The situation has reached such an extent that Turkish fertility clinics now welcome as many ‘tourists’ as Turks. Nevertheless, a few criteria must be met: only married heterosexual women are accepted and gamete donation cannot be used.
[1] The average cost of a cycle in the USA is $10,000-15,000, and the average cost of treatment is $1,500-5,000. A cycle in Turkey costs about $2,000, to which treatment costs of $300-700 must be added.
Jerusalem Post (13/04/2019)