The Lithuanian parliament on Tuesday amended the Law on Assisted Reproduction to scrap the requirement to store unused embryos indefinitely.
The amendments provide for storing created but unused embryos for at least two years and no more than ten years, unless the spouses or partners have expressed their will for a longer storage period.
The state will pay for the storage of the embryos for the first two years.
The amendments registered by a group of MPs from the ruling coalition were passed in a vote of 68 to 28, with 20 abstentions, and will come into force in July.
MP Ieva Pakarklytė of the Freedom Party said the amendments will help infertile couples who are now held back by the financial burden of paying for the indefinite storage of embryos.
“About one in six couples is experiencing fertility problems now and, according to medical experts, this number could rise,” she said. “The current regulation is not based on science, and it also imposes a huge financial burden on families because perpetual freezing [of embryos] costs several hundred euros a year.”
Agnė Širinskienė of the opposition Lithuanian Regions Political Group spoke against the amendments, saying that the proposed funding rules will prompt people to destroy embryos after two years.
“Very interestingly, the ruling bloc’s support for the family policy starts with the destruction of embryos,” she said. “I’m afraid we’re set to become the only country in Europe where the destruction of embryos is part of the family policy.”
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