LPMA

In legal terms, after acceptance of a constitutional article in 1992 on medically assisted procreation (LPMAThe Swiss Law on Medically Assisted Procreation (2001).), Swiss voters overwhelmingly rejected the initiative for "respect for human dignity" on March 12, 2000, which was aiming  to ban the use of IVF in Switzerland.

The Law on Medically Assisted Procreation (LPMAThe Swiss Law on Medically Assisted Procreation (2001). (French)) came into force on 1 January 2001 and endows the Swiss legal system among the most restrictive in the world. Indeed, the LPMAThe Swiss Law on Medically Assisted Procreation (2001). prohibits:

• the development of more than three embryos outside the woman's body
• cryopreservationProcess for the preservation of eggs and sperm by freezing. Thanks to the cryopreservation of zygotes the risk of multi-fetal pregnancy after IVF and ICSI can be reduced and the patient doest not need to repeat the hormonal stimulation and the collection of oocytes. of cell stage embryos
• pre-implantationInstallation of the embryo in the uterine lining. diagnosis
• egg donation
• embryoTerm designating the early stages of development from conception to the eighth week of pregnancy. From the first cell division on, the two-cell stage, one uses the term embryo. donation
• surrogates
• the development of embryos for research purposes
• the production of embryos in vitroLatin for "in glass" for example in a test tube, as opposed to processes taking place inside the body. for other reasons than to obtain a pregnancy
• sex determination
• interventions that alter the genetic makeup of gametesMale and female reproductive cells *: spermatozoa and eggs. or embryos
• cloning, the creation of chimeras or hybrids.

Note, however, that all of these measures do not hinder the quality care and treatments provided in Switzerland, which lead to success rates comparable to those of other European countries.

The need to freeze oocytes at an early stage (zygoteImpregnated oocyte, also called the "two pronuclei stage", about 20 hours after the spermatozoa has penetrated into the oocyte. The male and female pronuclei are visible in the oocyte, which has not yet divided to form what is then called an embryo. or impregnated oocyteA female reproductive cell. At birth, the ovaries contain 1 to 2 million oocytes. At puberty, there are no more than 400'000 to 500'000 left. Only 400 to 500 will reach maturity and ovulation at a rate of  one per month until menopause. All the others will finally degenerate at various stages of development.) forbids us to select embryos before embryoTerm designating the early stages of development from conception to the eighth week of pregnancy. From the first cell division on, the two-cell stage, one uses the term embryo. transfer. Thus, the success rate must consider not only the transfer of fresh embryos, but also the transfer of thawed zygotes. For more details, see the Cumulated pregnancy rates section.