Opposition plans bill on refunding IVF
The Civic Platform (KO), Poland's main opposition grouping, plans to file a civil bill enabling the refunding of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and has already gathered 500 thousand signatures under the draft legislation.
KO MP Ewa Kopacz, a former Polish prime minister, said on Thursday that the bill was planned as a test for ruling party Law and Justice (PiS) which had combatting infertility as one of main political slogans.
"This is where we are calling the shots," Kopacz said.
She added that if the ruling party declines to back the bill despite scientific proof of the effectiveness of IVF, she will "begin to wonder if... your aim is not to be a... dictatorship of blockheads."
From 2013 to 2016 Poland had a national IVF programme funded by the health ministry. At least 100 thousand Polish children were conceived under the scheme.
