PiS proposes a new voucher, the new Sejm is to deal with a citizens’ project on in vitro

MP from the Civic Coalition, Agnieszka Pomaska, announced on Monday afternoon on the X platform that the first reading of the citizens’ bill “Yes to in vitro” will take place on Wednesday at 11 a.m.

“Nearly half a million people signed it! PiS took away the funding of in vitro fertilization right after winning the elections. They took away the hope for happiness from thousands of Polish men and women. We will restore these hopes soon!” – she wrote.

The Speaker of the Senate also announced that the first reading was to take place on Wednesday Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska (KO).

Civil draft act on in vitro reimbursement was submitted during the last term of the Sejm. According to the draft amendment to the Act on health care services financed from public funds, the Minister of Health would develop, implement, implement and finance a health policy program for infertility treatment, covering medical procedures of assisted reproduction, including in vitro fertilization. The minister would also submit to the Sejm a report on the implementation of this program.

The project specifies the minimum amount of financial resources from the state budget to be allocated annually to the implementation of the policy program in question – not less than PLN 500 million.

In the coalition agreement of KO, Polski 2050, PSL and the New Left support for couples planning parenthood was included by financing the in vitro procedure and full access to free prenatal tests, which is to be provided by the state. The implementation of “modern standards” of perinatal care and access to free anesthesia were declared.

On Monday, during a press conference, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, head of the Ministry of Family and Social Policy Marlena Maląg and Minister of Health Katarzyna Sójka presented some of the proposals of the Decalogue of Polish Affairs regarding family, seniors, education and health.

Those related to health included a parental voucher for families who, as the Minister of Health said, struggle with reproductive problems. She emphasized that parents will decide how to use the money.

When asked whether the voucher would also cover in vitro, the Prime Minister replied: “Our parental voucher is a kind of open offer to other political parties in order to find a common denominator, to find all the methods that will unite us.” When asked about the approximate amount of the voucher, he said it was between PLN 10,000 and PLN 20,000. – We discussed this amount – he said.

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Paweł Bliźniuk, an MP from the Civic Coalition, commented in a conversation with TVN24 reporter Piotr Borowski that “all these stories about vouchers and support are absurd.”

– PIS eight years ago he liquidated the national in vitro program. Today we are ready to restore this program as soon as possible. Especially since there is a citizens’ bill. Half a million Poles supported the restoration of such a national program by signing the draft bill, he said.

On Monday afternoon, the president of the Polish People’s Party published an entry on the X platform, in which he also recalled that “one of the first decisions of the Law and Justice government was to eliminate funding for the in vitro program.”

“We will change this next Wednesday and restore the chance for happiness to thousands of Polish families!” – he wrote Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz.

From July 2013 to the end of 2016, the government in vitro program was in force in Poland, thanks to which over 22,000 children were born in three and a half years. PLN 250 million was allocated from public funds for this purpose. After Law and Justice came to power, the then Minister of Health, Konstanty Radziwiłł, announced his resignation from this program. Instead, a “procreation program” emerged, resulting in only 209 births in 15 months. Since 2016, infertility treatment using in vitro fertilization has been subsidized by some local governments.