Roman Catholic Church bishops in Poland have threatened to excommunicate MPs who support state funding for IVF.
Archbishop Henryk Hoser, head of the Episcopal Expert Team on Bioethics, said at the weekend that MPs who support IVF will be excommunicated.
The government announced last week that legislation on state funding for childless couples seeking IVF treatment will be ready soon, though there are competing bills being prepared in parliament on the extent of the funding. Poland currently has no clear laws on the procedure
The Roman Catholic Church has yet to reveal which draft bill on IVF it will support.
In May this year, the Episcopal Council for Family Affairs decided that MPs who support IVF will not be able to take communion. The decision was criticized, however, by Prof. Franciszek Longchamps de Berier, member of the Episcopal Expert Team on Bioethics.
“The destruction of embryos is the same askilling but it is not the same as abortion. Therefore, it cannot be punished in the same way as abortion. Bioethical issues are relatively new and the Church is still reflecting on them,” said Longchamps de Berier.
In June, the Episcopate issued a statement saying that people who perform in vitro cannot take communion until they do penance, but the bishops did not mention politicians who vote for state funding of IVF.
The ruling Civic Platform party has prepared two draft bills which are supposed to bring Polish legislation in line with the European Union's conventions and directives on bioethics.
One project was drafted by conservative Civic Platform MP Jaroslaw Gowin who suggests that in vitro should be available only for married couples. Another bill authored by Malgorzata Kidawa-Blonska, is more liberal on the issue, expanding the amount of couples who could take advantage of the funding.
Meanwhile, the opposition Law and Justice party has drafted two bills banning in vitro completely. One of them, co-drafted by Civic Platform’s coalition partner, the Polish Peasant’s Party, suggests that doctors who perform in vitro should face prison. (pg/mg)