IVF | A tale of two Christian democrat dilemmas

Tusk is the leader of the Civil Platform party, which like Malta’s Nationalist party is a full member of the European People’s Party.

In comments remarkably similar to those made by Bishop Mario Grech before the divorce referendum in Malta, in October 2010 Archbishop Henryk Hoser said that MPs who supported IVF would “find themselves automatically outside the community of the Church”.

Government spokesperson Pawel Graz described the Church’s threats as “blackmail.” Tusk is himself supporting a bill proposed by Malgorzata Kidawa-Blonska that permits IVF and associated procedures, including embryo freezing, for married couples and those in heterosexual relationships.

The bill supported by Tusk is similar to the proposals made by a parliamentary committee chaired by Nationalist MP Jean Pierre Farrugia, composed by members of both sides of the house.

The bill also includes provisions for the procedure to be paid for by the National Health Fund.

Poland’s main conservative opposition Law and Justice Party wants IVF banned, while some ultra-conservative groups are pushing for it to be criminalised.  Unlike the Maltese church, which has been remarkably silent on this issue, the Polish church has taken a hardline stance, calling  for a total ban on IVF.

The country’s bishops say IVF comes at a “great human cost”. “IVF requires the ‘selection’ of embryos, which means killing them. It is about selecting weaker human embryos deemed to be unfit,” the letter said.

Tusk pledged in his 2006 election campaign to ensure availability and universal access to IVF, which is provided by approximately 40 centres throughout Poland. Of those only half report the number of treatments, indicating the use of IVF may be higher than statistics indicate.

IVF currently costs more than double the average monthly income in Poland. “If we decide on IVF then we cannot leave it as an exclusive method available only to the affluent,” Tusk said.

In November 2010, MPs sent five of six bills on the state funding of IVF treatment back to the parliamentary committee discussing the issue.

The bills range from a liberal draft law by Margorzata Kidawa-Blonska (Civic Platform) – supported by Prime Minister Donald Tusk – to a more conservative bill by Jaroslaw Gowin, also from the Civic Platform party, which envisages a ban on freezing embryos and limits public funding of treatment to married couples only.

A bill written by the right-wing Law and Justice’s Boleslaw Piecha seeks to ban IVF outright.

Another bill sponsored by Law and Justice’s Teresa Wargocka which would have criminalised IVF treatment – punishable by up to five years in jail – has already been dismissed by MPs. Parliament has still to take a decision on the issue.

On his part, Gonzi has recently announced that IVF legislation could be presented to Parliament in the coming “weeks” but this would exclude embryo freezing: a procedure recommended by a parliamentary committee made up of MPs from both sides of the House.

The conservative law, which would still defy the church’s teachings against IVF, is expected to favour the more experimental method of oocyte vitrification, which has been endorsed by Health Minister Joe Cassar.