Italy introduced legislation in 2004 governing assisted reproduction. Before then, the legislative vacuum that existed in Italy had de facto rendered all scientific techniques lawful. That vacuum has now been filled by a controversial and retrogressive law, which permits access to assisted reproduction within very narrow confines. Access is limited to stable heterosexual couples of a fertile age who may use only their own, and not donor, gametes. The woman is under an obligation to have all created embryos, healthy or diseased, implanted.