The position of the Foundation for Women and Family Planning FEDERA regarding the draft Act amending the Act on health care services financed from public funds (the so-calledAct on IVF reimbursement or funding).
In the course of public consultations conducted by the Senate of the Republic of Poland concerning a bill amending the Act on health care services financed from public funds (Senate print no. 1072), the FEDERA Foundation received on 20.07.2023 the bill in question. The proposed amendments aim to introduce public funding for the procedure of assisted in vitro fertilisation.
The FEDERA Foundation offers its full support to the bill.
Infertility has been classified by the World Health Organization as a civilisational disease. In Poland, it affects approximately 1.5 million couples, which accounts for up to 1/5 of the population of reproductive age. According to D. Adamson, representative of the International Committee for Monitoring Assisted Reproductive Technologies, until now about 12 million babies have been born worldwide through IVF, of which approximately 100 000 in Poland. Meanwhile, the IVF procedure, due to its costs, remains beyond the financial reach of many couples in Poland.
Supporting the bill that will increase the availability of services for planned parenthood is clearly a pro-family measure and one that is supportive of both the welfare of those struggling for the possibility of having children, as well as the demographic policy of the country.
Reproductive rights are not just about the right to decide if, when and how many children one wants to have. They also include the guarantee of receiving from the State all the information you need, as well as ensuring access to the means without which it is impossible to realise the right to informed parenthood.
As the FEDERA Foundation has been advocating since 1991 for maintaining the highest standard of reproductive health, we express our full support for the bill.
