19 December, Minsk /Ekaterina Nechaeva - BELTA/. Belarusian MPs today, at a session of the autumn parliamentary session of the House of Representatives, adopted in the second reading the bill on assisted reproductive technologies (ART), which enshrines the right of women suffering from infertility to use the IVF method and surrogacy services, a BELTA correspondent reports.
Thus, the consideration of the first bill in Belarus regulating the sphere of ART application in the lower house of parliament has been completed. For the document to enter into force, it needs to be approved by the members of the Council of the Republic and signed by the head of state.
Throughout the entire period of preparation and consideration of the bill in the House of Representatives, public discussions on its individual provisions continued. Svetlana Shilova, an MP and obstetrician-gynecologist with many years of experience, who participated in the development of the document, provided clarifications and answers to the most pressing questions during this time.
The most controversial provision in the bill is the one on surrogacy. Representatives of several confessions, including Catholics and Orthodox Christians, oppose its codification at the legislative level. Svetlana Shilova herself does not hide that she does not approve of surrogacy. However, as an MP, a legislator, she cannot allow surrogacy in Belarus to be suddenly banned after it has been permitted for many years. True, not at the level of law, but at the level of other regulatory legal acts. "It is impossible to abolish it and restrict women's rights, so we must put surrogacy within clear legislative frameworks," Svetlana Shilova is confident.
"Surrogacy does not contradict ethics as long as it stems from medical indications and excludes social reasons, such as a woman being too lazy to carry a child, a woman being afraid of childbirth, or not wanting pregnancy to interfere with her career," the parliamentarian emphasized.
There is probably no universal answer to the question of whether legal surrogacy is needed in any country in the world. For example, in Sweden, Denmark, Spain, and Latvia, it is prohibited. In most US states, the Netherlands, Brazil, Hungary, and throughout the post-Soviet space, surrogacy is permitted. Even if not always at the legislative level, but through other regulatory documents.
The parliamentarian is convinced that with the adoption of the bill on ART, the situation with surrogacy in Belarus will not fundamentally change. "Considering the mentality of our population, surrogacy will not be widely used in our country. Over all the years it has been permitted, there have only been 12 cases. This type of assistance will not become widespread, no boom is expected, but we must give people a chance to become parents," she emphasized.
The bill establishes clear legal boundaries within which genetic parents and a surrogate mother operate. It is stipulated that the surrogate mother carries and gives birth to a child who does not carry her genotype, meaning the child is not genetically related to her. Moreover, surrogacy is a type of ART that can only be used by a woman for whom carrying and giving birth to a child is physiologically impossible due to medical indications or is associated with risks to her life, health, or the child's life and health. This means that situations similar to the story of Philipp Kirkorov or homosexual European couples who have children with the help of surrogate mothers are impossible in Belarus.
Serious restrictions are also established by the bill regarding individuals using the IVF method or wishing to become donors. In particular, the age of female patients when using IVF is limited to 50 years. The number of embryos implanted in a woman is also limited: no more than two embryos for patients under 35 years old, and no more than three for those who are older or have already had at least three unsuccessful IVF attempts. The final version of the bill omits the phrase that, at the patient's request, a doctor may perform reduction (a procedure to reduce the number of developing embryos). This procedure will only be carried out for medical reasons when the development of a multiple pregnancy threatens the woman's life and health."I would make the law even stricter, limiting, in particular, not only the number of embryos for transfer but also the number of possible IVF attempts. After all, each of them involves a significant hormonal burden on a woman's body. The more attempts are made, the greater the risk of long-term health problems. Women obsessed with the idea of motherhood are often willing to sacrifice themselves for a desired pregnancy, often preferring not to seriously consider what will happen after it occurs," believes Svetlana Shilova. Incidentally, she advocated for a legal ban on IVF for unmarried women. However, she was unable to defend her point of view in parliament. It is encouraging that the proportion of single women among those undergoing IVF in Belarus is very small – about 0.33%.
The rights to store and use gametes and embryos are clearly defined. Patients who decide to use the IVF method will have to determine the conditions and terms for storing gametes and embryos, the method of their cryopreservation, and the procedure in case they remain unclaimed. The bill provides a clear answer to the question of what to do with cells and embryos if the patient has not used them. Firstly, they cannot be transferred to other patients. Secondly, the use of embryos for research purposes is prohibited. Thirdly, if a married couple divorces or one of the spouses dies, the other spouse does not have the right to use the remaining cells or embryos.
After the law comes into force, Belarus will for the first time have a unified catalogue of anonymous donors. It will contain information about the donor's age, height, weight, hair and eye colour, information about racial origin, education, blood group, and Rh factor. Patients will have the right to choose a donor. However, the choice of the future child's sex is prohibited by law. The procedure for forming and maintaining the catalogue, as well as the conditions for patients to access it, will be determined by the Ministry of Health.
It is expected that if adopted, the law will come into force six months after its official publication.-0-
BELTA