The Story of 10 Couples Who Fought Costa Rica’s Ban on in Vitro Fertilization

Andrea, a Costa Rican mother, stands in court before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Washington, D.C., testifying against her country’s ban on in vitro fertilization (IVF). Sitting across the courtroom is Martha Garza, a U.S. anti-abortion doctor, arguing for protection of the embryos’ rights. The year is 2008, eight years after Costa Rica became the first country to ban IVF, and the ten couples who have sued their government for violating their right to have a family, have not lost strength or hope. Their story, leading up to that day in court, is told in Beautiful Sin, a new documentary by journalist Gabriela Quirós.

Quirós, who graduated from Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism in 1999, took on a decade-long commitment, following three of the ten couples fighting the IVF ban in Costa Rica. She is a natural choice to tell the story: a Costa Rican native who started her career in journalism as a health reporter, she covered the birth of the first Costa Rican IVF baby, in 1995.

“I love covering health” Gabriela said in...