Poland drafts regulations for in vitro fertilization

Poland's government on Tuesday adopted new draft legislation to clarify regulations for in vitro fertilization for married and unwed couples.

Poland's influential Roman Catholic Church and conservative politicians are opposed to IVF and to the regulations, but the ruling center-right Civic Platform party pushed ahead with the bill, concerned over the falling number of births and the aging of the society.

Health Minister Bartosz Arlukowicz said that the procedure will be available to couples who for at least 12 months had no results from any other method.

The draft still needs approval from the Parliament, where it is expected to draw criticism from conservative opposition lawmakers, who say it is not natural and acts against human life by allowing for spare embryos to be destroyed.

Arlukowicz said the draft was a "moral compromise" with the opponents. It says that spare embryos, if unused by the couple for 20 years, can be offered for adoption, but cannot be destroyed.

Poland already allows IVF in licensed clinics, but lacks coherent legal and logistical regulations. In a recent blunder, a woman was implanted with a wrong egg.

So far 1,433 children have been born from IVF in Poland.

© 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.