Equality in assisted reproduction is not given in Europe and worldwide. Different rules and laws in diverse countries enable or inhibit access to technologies of reproductive medicine. In Germany for example sperm donation is permitted, whereas egg donation is illegal. In many neighbour counties of Germany however egg donation is accessible and lawful. Surrogacy is legal or in twilight zone in some European states as well as in some other countries worldwide. Not only legal accessibility, but also the financing of reproductive technologies is regulated in different ways. Often the costs of assisted reproduction are partly refunded for married, heterosexual couples. Solo mothers, unmarried or queer parents have to pay the measures without any support of health insurance funds. These legal and financial inequalities lead to a phenomenon called reproductive tourism. Humans with wish to have children travel to other countries to be able to apply their preferred technologies of assisted reproduction. There, the accessibility to these technologies is either looser regulated or cheaper. At the same time, it has to be considered that using any method to any price provokes ethical questions regarding issues of social justice, women's rights and welfare of the future child.
The question arises: Is reproductive tourism a productive way to enable equal access to reproductive technologies or is reproductive tourism a source of social injustice? This will be the leading question of the contribution about (in)equalities in assisted reproduction. As religious and Christian values often influence legal rules and how equality and justice are defined, the perspective of Chistian ethics can enrich this discussion. It will be deliberated if there can be found a way to combine equal access and social justice in questions of assisted reproduction. Reproductive tourism concerns the international community, which makes it a relevant topic to discuss on an international conference.