Lithuanian lawmakers on Thursday rejected a proposal by Morgana Danielė, a member of the Freedom Party group part of the ruling coalition, to allow the artificial insemination for unmarried couples and single women.
Forty MPs gave their initial backing to the amendments, 42 voted against and 21 abstained. A separate vote then returned the bill to its initiators for further consideration.
Danielė said the amendments would allow couples or single women who currently do not have access to artificial insemination services to have children. The MP also said that couples and women now travel to Latvia where such procedures are allowed for unmarried couples.
Some MPs criticised the proposal, saying it would open the path for same-sex partners to have children. However, Danielė argued that two women living together currently have the opportunity to have children by using artificial insemination services abroad, and such families do exist.
Further reading
Currently, the artificial insemination law in Lithuania stipulates that the procedure can only be carried out using the gametes of the woman and her cohabiting spouse or partner.
After much debate, the artificial insemination law was adopted in Lithuania in 2016 and came into force the following year. Such services became covered by the Compulsory Health Insurance Fund and have been used by several thousand couples.
The Seimas initially mandated the indefinite storage of embryos created for artificial insemination, but it scrapped the requirement last year.
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
