In Poland debates are highly contentious about IVF issue

13.07.2015

On 8 July senators in Poland spent 11 hours debating one of the most divisive issue in domestic politics, Radio Poland reports.

Early in June the lower house of parliament agreed on conditions under which in vitro fertilization (IVF) could be offered, Reuters reported at the time. The procedure has long been available, but right-wing parties and the Catholic Church have opposed attempts to regulate it because they want to see it outlawed, according to the news agency.

The Senate took up the matter, which is being pushed by the ruling center-right Civic Platform party in a likely attempt to woo back its liberal voters in upcoming elections.

According to Reuters, Poland is the only European Union member not to have passed IVF regulations.

The law approved in June makes IVF available to married and unmarried couples, but only after all other methods are exhausted or deemed insufficient.

The church and the conservative opposition Law and Justice Party argue that IVF divorces marital sex from procreation and could result in the destruction of fertilized embryos.

Civic Platform, in power since 2007, has attempted previously to establish a legal framework allowing IVF, but each attempt has been bogged down by Catholic conservatives.

“We are opening the gates of hell with this act,” Dorota Czudowska, a senator from the conservative Law and Justice party, warned during this week’s debate, Radio Poland reports.

Other senators, including those from the governing coalition, proposed allowing treatment only for married couples.

Radio Poland reports, Civic Platform lawmaker Jozef Pinior argued that “this law does not force anyone to use this method,” and that the changes have been introduced to give people “freedom of choice.”

As for now, a Senate committee is considering the bill and amendments.

Based on: tol.org