Press release, 10 September 2016
At the plenary sitting of the Seimas, Lina Antanavičienė, Chief Adviser to Dalia Grybauskaitė, President of the Republic of Lithuania, presented the presidential decree whereby the draft Law on Assisted Fertilisation(No XIP-2502 Gr) was returned to the Seimas for repeat consideration.
On 28 June 2016, the Seimas adopted the Law on Assisted Fertilisation laying down the conditions, methods and procedure for assisted fertilisation of women. Under the Law, assisted fertilisation may be carried out by using only the reproductive cells of a woman to be fertilised and her spouse or partner. The Law allows creating only as many embryos as are intended to be introduced into a woman’s uterus at a time and limits the number of created embryos to three.
According to the presidential decree, the adopted Law prevents infertile couples from accessing medically-proven infertility treatment methods and restricts possibilities to protect children against genetic diseases leading to severe disability.
The President of the Republic of Lithuania proposes introducing such legal provisions which meet the expectations of infertile couples; correspond to the international medical practice and the recommendations of the World Health Organization; provide access to medically-proven infertility treatment methods; protect the health of the mother and the child; impose no restrictions on the number of embryos and ensure their protection; and prevent severe genetic diseases.
The President also proposes establishing in the Law that assisted fertilisation may be carried out by using only the reproductive cells of a women to be fertilised and the reproductive cells of a donor, a spouse or a partner forming part of their household in the manner laid down by law, except in the cases where the reproductive cells of one of the spouses or partners cannot be used for assisted fertilisation due to impaired or insufficient number of reproductive cells, as well as in cases where there is a substantial risk of transmitting diseases leading to severe disability, the criteria for which will be established by the Minister of Health.
The proposals of the President of the Republic of Lithuania aim at allowing the procedures of assisted fertilisation only in cases when there are no other means to cure infertility or when the chances of success of the treatment are low. Also, assisted fertilisation may be undertaken in order to prevent or cure diseases leading to severe disability, the criteria for which will be established by the Minister of Health. The provisions should also allow for the production of as many embryos as possible at a time, but the final decision on their number will be taken by both spouses (cohabiting partners) in consultation with the doctor.
After the presentation of the presidential decree, a total of 88 Members of the Seimas attending the plenary sitting voted unanimously in favour of repeat consideration of the draft Law on Assisted Fertilisation. It will be referred for consideration to the Committee on Health Affairs serving as the lead committee.
Rimas Rudaitis, Senior Specialist, Press Office, Information and Communication Department, tel. +370 5 239 6132, e-mail: rimas.rudaitis@lrs.lt