Spain emerges as The Eldorado of fertility treatments

Every year, more than 5,000 people walk through the glass doors of the Madrid IVF clinic.

"Making parents out of our patients," reads an ad in Madrid's metro for one of Spain's many fertility clinics that have opened their doors to husbands and wives, same-sex couples and single women thanks to lenient laws.

Every year, more than 5,000 people walk through the glass doors of the Madrid IVF clinic, where couples sit in a hushed atmosphere, English, Spanish and French wafting through the waiting room to help foreign customers, 20 percent of all its patients.

Sitting in his office behind the reception, where black-and white photos of babies' hands hang on the wall, director Juan Antonio Garcia Velasco says that Spain has become a "reference point" for fertility treatment.

He points for instance to "being able to provide treatment that is banned in many countries."

Up to 50 years old

A law that came into force in 2006 allows women aged 18 or over -- be they single, in heterosexual or same-sex couples -- to access assisted reproductive technology such as artificial insemination or in vitro fertilisation (IVF).