Doctors inject a human egg with sperm in the IVF process.

American couples are discovering fertility treatment services offered in the Czech Republic.

By Ruby Hlivko

Dr. Štěpán Machač of Reprofit International, a fertility clinic in the Czech Republic’s second-largest city of Brno, asks his clients if the clinic’s treatment has changed their lives. The answer is usually yes. Couples for whom he has performed in-vitro fertilization (IVF) during the clinic’s first operating year in 2007 are now returning for their second babies, and showing him photos of their first. Nearly 25% of these couples are American.

In the United States, women who are unable to conceive a child because their ovaries produce poor or too few eggs require an oocyte, or egg donor. They also face two to three years on a waiting list and pay on average $15,000 for the life-creating treatment that has an average 50% success rate.

As with other expensive procedures like cosmetic surgery, women have traveled to popular medical tourism destinations like Mexico, India, and Malaysia as a cheaper and quicker alternative with the bonus of an exotic getaway. But when it comes to bringing another life into the world and finding ethnically-matched donors, American women are turning to European countries. The Czech Republic in particular has high medical standards, low procedure costs, Caucasian donors, and legislation unique to the former Eastern Bloc.

Agencies in the Czech Republic and in the United States offer services assisting foreigners in their travels to the Czech Republic for IVF treatment. Marcela and Craig Fite run Ivfvacation.com out of their home near Toledo and have assisted in approximately 150 pregnancies in just three years. They advertise a price of $7,166, which covers the cost of the IVF donor cycle treatment, medications for the donor and the recipient, the embryo transfer, a fee for their services, and hotel accommodations for eight days.

Prices can be lower in countries neighboring the Czech Republic, but legislation there has pushed IVF and egg donation in the Czech Republic forward. In June 2006, the Czech parliament passed a law which obliges providers of assisted reproduction to maintain the anonymity of donors, clients and children born as a result of assisted reproduction.

“I think it’s a good thing,” said Marcela Fite. “Not all clients want to know the name — or looks for that matter — of their donors. A lot of egg recipients actually prefer not knowing.”

Recipients can select the blood group, age, hair and eye color, height and weight of the donor. The donor is not notified, however, even if her eggs are fertilized.

Czech standards used to test donors for eligibility are the same as those required by the American Society of Reproductive Medicine. Czech law also specifies that the donor complete the equivalent of a high school education. Education and personality traits are deciding factors for some clients, especially in the United States, where Ivy League grads are paid upwards of $150,000.

Some clinics, like the Clinic of Reproductive Medicine in Zlín, recruit prospective donors at the local Tomáš Baťa University, but the most they will receive is the amount of an average months salary — CZK 15,000, or around $800.

Financial compensation for egg donors is not required, encouraged or legally binding in the European Union. Some form of compensation is allowed to cover the time and wages a woman may lose, however, as well as for the physical discomfort involved with the operation.

Fite says financial reasons are the biggest motivator for donors. “I don’t think the compensation in the Czech Republic is equal to what some women have to go through to donate and miss work.”

Machač of Reprofit acknowledges that compensation is part of the recruitment, but noted that donors do not see any money until about six months after their initial appointment.

Spain has similar legislation requiring anonymity, and donors there are paid slightly more — about $900. The physical appearances of Spanish donors are a concern for many hopeful mothers, however. Their reservations can be seen on the website FertilityFriends.co.uk, a support network and message board for fertility and infertility.

A FertilityFriends member considering IVF treatment in Spain wrote, “We are both very pale with green eyes and very dark hair — typical Irish. Would we be matched up with an egg donor who looks like us? Do any Spanish women look so pale?”

“I would say Hungary is our biggest competitor,” said Iveta Jakoubková, spokeswoman for the national tourist office CzechTourism. “Within the next one to two years, we hope to develop more programs and services for those seeking medical care in the Czech Republic.”