By Thaddeus M. Baklinski
ELK, Poland, February 20, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Bishop of the Diocese of Elk in northeastern Poland, Most Reverend Jerzy Mazur, has given his approval to a petition campaign which seeks to criminalize in vitro fertilization and embryonic stem cell research.
Polskie Radio reports that the “Contra In Vitro” Committee For Legislative Initiative is seeking 100,000 signatures to initiate a project to change the legal code regarding the implementation of in vitro fertilisation.
Head of the committee, Jacek Kotula, from Tyczyn in southeastern Poland, said that the group aims to propose legislation before the Sejm, the lower house of parliament, to introduce changes into the civil code that would establish a law providing that whoever engages in fertilisation of an egg cell (fertilisation by in vitro) outside of a mother’s body will face up to three years in prison. It will also call for between 5 and 25 years in prison for anyone who engages in embryonic stem cell research.
The “Contra In Vitro” Committee has declared that they are mounting a campaign to seek signatures all over Poland and have sought the aid of Catholic churches, asking priests to appeal for signatures during their sermons in Mass.
“We are collecting signatures with the permission of the Bishop of Elk. For the past few days we have been collecting signatures and PESEL [identification] numbers,” Father Jacek Uchan of an Elk parish told Polskie Radio.
Currently, Poland does not have established laws to address in vitro fertilization. The government has established a bioethics committee to analyze the issue and propose legislation. The project is expected to regulate in vitro procedures, protecting the rights of embryos, forbidding the sale of sperm and eggs, as well as banning the selection of eggs for fertilization.