Legal Aspects

The Austrian so-called Reproductive Medicine Act (FmedG) has been enforced since July 1st, 1992.

In principle, medically assisted reproduction is only permitted in a marriage or marriage-like partnership and is only allowed with written consent. In the case of cohabitation, consent must also be provided in the form of a notarial deed or court record. In Austria, artificial conception is only permitted if all other possible and reasonable treatments to induce pregnancy through sexual intercourse have been unsuccessful or have no chance of success, according to state-of-the-art research and experience.

The methods of medically assisted reproduction according to the FMedG are:

• Introducing semen into the woman’s uterus
• Union of egg and sperm cells outside of the body
• Introducing viable cells into the woman’s uterus
• Transfer of egg cells or egg cells with sperm into the woman’s uterus

Since the amendment of the Reproductive Medicine Act in 2015, it is now possible in Austria for same-sex female couples to receive IVF treatment using donor sperm. Preimplantation diagnostics on embryos to avoid familial illnesses and repeated miscarriages have also been permitted since 2015.