Italian Constitutional Court modifications of a restrictive assisted reproduction technology law significantly improve pregnancy rate

background: In May 2009, the Italian Constitutional Court banned most of the limitations of a restrictive law regulating assisted reproduction
technology on the grounds that it limited a couple’s right to have access to the best possible medical treatment and reduce any
possible higher risk of complications. The aim of the study was to compare our results in fresh cycles before and after this change.
materials and methods: We analysed retrospectively 3274 IVF cycles: 2248 before and 1026 after the law was modified.
results: There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of age, basal FSH levels, years of infertility, the number of
previous cycles or the number of oocytes retrieved but the number of oocytes used (2.7+0.6 versus 4.6+1.8; P ¼ ,0.001), the number
of embryos obtained (2.0+0.9 versus 3.3+1.8; P ¼ ,0.001) and transferred (2.2+0.7 versus 2.3+0.7; P ¼ ,0.001) were all higher
after the removal of the previous restrictions, as was the pregnancy rate per started cycle (23.49% versus 20.42%; P ¼ 0.047). Before modification
of the law, the pregnancies were single in 74.11% of the cases (versus 71.43% afterwards), twins in 23.44% (versus 26.89%; P ¼
0.318) and triplets in 2.46% (versus 1.68%; P ¼ 0.594).
conclusions: Our preliminary results after the removal of the previous legal restrictions show a higher pregnancy rate per started
cycle (3.7% represents a 15% difference) and a positive (albeit non-significant) trend towards a reduction in the number of multiple