Der Spiegel, one of the most widely read and prestigious weekly magazines in the German-speaking world with a circulation of more than 600,000 copies, has published an extensive investigative report on the German Embryo Protection Act (Embryonenschutzgesetz). The law, which came into force in 1991 under the government of Helmut Kohl, is now openly described by experts as a health risk and a legal anachronism. For thousands of German couples, however, a solution exists across the border—in Prague.
Why Der Spiegel is looking to Prague
In issue no. 9/2026, Der Spiegel examines how the German law from 1991 effectively prevents a wide range of assisted reproduction methods that are standard across the rest of Europe. Egg donation is a criminal offense in Germany—doctors can face up to three years in prison for performing it. Within the EU, this restriction exists in only two countries: Germany and Luxembourg.
Der Spiegel reporter Kerstin Kullmann therefore traveled to Prague—specifically to the Pronatal clinic, which specializes in care for German-speaking patients. Pronatal was contacted and selected by the editorial team as a partner for the report—Der Spiegel chose us rather than our competitors. For us, this is a significant confirmation of the quality of care we provide.
A 35-year-old law harms women and science
Germany’s Embryonenschutzgesetz limits the number of embryos that can be cultured, how they may be frozen, and the possibilities for research. Experts interviewed by Der Spiegel are unequivocal: the law directly endangers the health of women and children.
Because the law does not allow doctors to select the highest-quality embryo from a larger group (as is common in the rest of Europe), physicians in Germany are pushed toward transferring multiple embryos at once. The result: Germany has a strikingly high rate of multiple pregnancies after IVF, which carry more than a 60% risk of premature birth. In Denmark, multiple pregnancies after IVF are around two percent; in France, about 4.5 percent. In Germany, they were until recently around 16 percent.
According to experts, the law is also discriminatory: while sperm donation is legal in Germany, egg donation is punishable. “Legally, we have been left high and dry. And so have our patients and their children,” says leading German reproductive medicine specialist Julia Bartley from the Leipzig University.
Prague as a center of care for Germans: Pronatal in Der Spiegel
The Der Spiegel report describes the everyday reality at the Pronatal clinic: German-speaking staff, clear communication, and access to methods that are prohibited in neighboring Germany. Embryologist Nina Cozlová and medical director Nicole Mardešićová explain why patients from Germany often arrive exhausted—after years of unsuccessful attempts in which no alternative options were offered at home.
“Many women arrive exhausted and devastated. Doctors in Germany repeatedly told them: try again, don’t give up—yet they themselves had no other option than to recommend additional cycles with the patient’s own eggs, even when the chances of success were minimal,” said medical director Mardešićová in the report.
In Prague, doctors can offer what modern reproductive medicine requires: embryo culture until the fifth or sixth day, selection of the healthiest embryo, and Single Embryo Transfer—a method that is now the standard for safe care in most European countries. And where a woman’s own eggs are no longer viable, donation is available—transparent, ethically regulated, with donor compensation between €1,000 and €1,200.
What this means for couples seeking help
Every year, thousands of German couples travel for infertility treatment to Spain and the Czech Republic—countries where hundreds of clinics specialize in care for German patients. It is estimated that several thousand children are born in Germany each year from egg donation procedures carried out abroad. It is a quiet exodus that German politics has ignored for decades.
The full Der Spiegel report can be found at spiegel.de.
