Puts IVF on the “black list” of treatments which will not be funded
ROME, June 12, 2002 (LSN.ca) – The fruits of the recently elected centre-right coalition government, which included a pro-life contingent represented by the Christian Democrats, have begun to show with a new bill on assisted reproduction. The bill tabled Tuesday bans all experimentation on human embryos and includes a prohibition on testing and freezing embryos.
While not banning invitro fertilization (IVF) outright, the legislation says, “the production of embryos is allowed only within the limits strictly necessary to implant one and no more than three.” Thus all embryos created will be afforded a chance of life by being implanted in the uterus of the mother and selective abortion in the case of multiple pregnancies created through IVF are forbidden. Finally the bill puts IVF on the “black list” of treatments which will not be funded by taxpayer dollars.
Pro-abortion politicians, particularly in the communist party, reacted fiercely to the bill. More than 500 amendments were proposed during yesterday's session. Hopping mad, the bill's opponents said the bill which establishes the right of the conceived child to birth could call the nation's 1978 abortion law into question.
See related LifeSite coverage:
ITALY'S NEW COALITION GOVERNMENT INCLUDES PRO-LIFERS
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2001/may/01052305.html