This week's BioNews reports on news from Slovenia that a referendum has ruled against IVF for unmarried women. This will mean that not only lesbians and single women, but also unmarried couples will be denied treatment. In Europe, it is very rare for such hefty restrictions to be placed upon who can and who cannot access assisted conception treatments, where such treatments are available at all.
Politicians in Western European countries may feel a little pleased with themselves that they passed more liberal laws on access to IVF. But, in the United Kingdom at least, it nearly didn't happen. Back in 1989, when the Human Fertilisation and Embryology bill was going through its committee stages in the House of Lords, one particular peer tabled an amendment which sought to restrict IVF to married women only. It was defeated by just one vote.
A decade later, when more children than ever are born out of wedlock, many people going through IVF treatment can breathe a sigh of relief that the amendment never found its way to the statute book. If it had, there might now be a number of unmarried couples seeking redress under anti-discrimination legislation.
Slovenia, a country which is seeking membership of the European Union, may come under criticism for this recent move. But this development is more of an indication that pan-European rules on biomedical science policy are just as unrealistic as they were a decade ago. Ultimately, member states must make laws to suit their own cultural and political appetite, not matter how discriminatory they look to the others.
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