On Thursday afternoon, President Luis Guillermo Solis of Costa Rica signed an Executive Decree that aims to authorize and regulate in vitro fertilization (IVF), a reproductive practice that was prohibited for a couple of years after a landmark ruling in Constitutional Court.

The government of Costa Rica has been under pressure to reauthorize IVF since 2012, when Inter American Court of Human Rights issued an opinion that essentially put the country in the uncomfortable position of denying IVF to couples and families who wished to exercise their reproductive rights using this technique.

An official press release from the Presidential Office in the Zapote district of San Jose indicated that this decree puts Costa Rica in a more comfortable position insofar as being respectful and protective of human rights. This decree was an eleventh hour resolution.

As executed by President Solis, the IVF Executive Decree authorizes the transfer of two fertilized ova (zygotes or human eggs) per treatment. The number of donated eggs that can be accepted is limited to the procedure. Donors may only be adults who have not been incapacitated insofar as donation by a judicial court.

The Ministry of Public Health (Spanish initials: MSP) will be in charge of keeping control and oversight over a donor registry. Moreover, the decree orders the MSP to be a regulatory entity that determines the rulemaking required to carry out IVF procedures.

La Caja, Costa Rica’s public health system, will be in charge of implementing IVF procedures. The Board of Physicians will be in charge of establishing ethical guidelines and recommended IVF practices that must be followed in Costa Rica.

Opponents to this decree are planning to enter a Constitutional challenge; however, the preamble of the decree mentions the recommendation of the higher Court of Human Rights, which means that legal challenges are likely to fizzle.