Poland’s parliament will shortly debate draft legislation to regulate IVF — a procedure that is de facto legal in the country.

Poland’s parliament will shortly debate draft legislation about IVF – a procedure that de facto legal in the country but lacking a clear statutory framework.   

The proposed bill, put forward by the ruling Civic Platform party, would allow married and cohabiting couples access to the procedure after 12 months of trying to conceive. The age limit is likely to be capped at 35 for women.

The bill would also ban sales and destruction of human embryos, cloning of human embryos and manipulation of human DNA.

Polish Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz said she was concerned about inadequate legal structures regulating IVF. “The current lack of a legal framework for IVF is morally ambiguous and, from a medical standpoint, potentially dangerous”.

The proposed legislation comes in the wake of a Polish hospital IVF mix-up that led to one woman giving birth to the child of another female patient.

Conservative politicians in the Civic Platform party are likely to oppose the bill, as are many politicians from the opposition Law and Justice party.

1,433 children have been born from IVF in Poland since the procedure was made available 25 years ago. 

IVF law to be debated in Poland
Xavier Symons
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IVF
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therapeutic cloning