“With the support of UARM”, — write: www.pravda.com.ua
Experts and deputies oppose the anti-reproductive draft law
The man was diagnosed with infertility. The couple went through years of treatments and surgeries, and Alina finally got pregnant. However, the pregnancy turned out to be ectopic, at the age of 30 she lost part of her reproductive organs and the ability to conceive naturally.
The only way out for the family was in vitro fertilization. On the fourth attempt, Alina became a mother. In May 2022, the couple had a son. Their happiness knew no bounds. Now Alina, as a psychologist, supports those who have despaired of having a child, and is sure that assisted reproductive technologies give a chance to become parents to those who have health problems.
Alina’s story is not unique. Since 1999, 121,272 children have been born in Ukraine thanks to DRT. Only in 2023, 9,885 babies were born thanks to DRT.
However, there may be fewer happy stories like Alina’s. The Verkhovna Rada registered the government draft law No. 13683, the adoption of which will lead to a decrease in the number of DRT cycles, as well as to the outflow of such specialists as clinical embryologists from Ukraine, of which there are currently about 250 in the country.
The public organization “Union “Ukrainian Association of Reproductive Medicine” (UARM) is concerned about the following points of the draft law:
Figure: 31 countries in the world provide in vitro fertilization with egg donation to single women
The government draft law also provides for a ban on embryological research. According to experts, this may lead to an outflow of clinical embryologists abroad. And the ban on donating embryos to women who are not genetically related to him will violate the rights of those who no longer have the opportunity to have a genetically native child.
Since 2024, infertility treatment with DRT has been included in the medical guarantee program. Ukrainian men and women could undergo treatment for free. At the same time, says Zukin, 80% of patients who come to clinics from the UARM structure for the DRT service do not even know about the existence of such a free state medical service.
numbers:
Ukrainian woman received infertility treatment under the medical guarantee program from the beginning of 2025
of these women became pregnant
The new draft law does not guarantee financing of the NSHU’s infertility treatment program.
“Every year, the government approves the amount of state medical guarantees within the budget. If this is not stipulated in the law, then in theory this important package can be removed from the program,” – says Valery Zukin.
The Ukrainian Association of Reproductive Medicine sent these and other comments to the Office of the President of Ukraine and received a response.
According to the response from the OPU, received by the Association, the appeal of specialists with reservations about the draft law was sent to the VRU Committee on National Health, Medical Assistance and Medical Insurance, as well as the Ministry of Health – for processing and informing about the results.
A traffic light color-coded map shows the level of access to such a service in each country, with dark green indicating excellent access and dark red indicating extremely poor access.
This atlas shows Poland’s significant progress (compared to 2021). It is about how policy changes and advocacy contribute to improving access to about the treatment of infertility in the country.
So, for example, in Poland, the state reimburses the cost of six in vitro fertilization procedures. Married and unofficial couples can enter the subsidy program. In addition, the presence of children and previous IVF do not prevent receiving compensation.
The main thing – meet age requirements and have medical insurance. A woman can participate in the program if she is no older than 42 in the case of IVF with her own gametes (eggs and sperm) and no older than 45 in the case of using donor material. For men, the age limit is 55 years. Embryo storage is free until the end of 2028. During the treatment, the couple must be accompanied by a psychologist.
The government also finances the acquisition of reproductive material and its subsequent storage for patients undergoing cancer treatment.
The amount of funding for IVF in the period from 2024 to 2028 is PLN 2.5 billion, which is equal to PLN 500 million per year.
The UK also has government programs that guarantee the right to reproductive health care through ART. So, for example, married couples of military personnel have access to free infertility examinations, treatment, IVF and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (sperm is injected directly into the cytoplasm of the egg using micro-instruments. – Ed.). As well as cryopreservation of sperm, oocytes and embryos for military personnel who are undergoing treatment for cancer and plan to have children in the future.
A paid leave of up to one year is provided for servicewomen who have entered into an agreement on surrogate motherhood.
And Israeli law provides for the right to in vitro fertilization for widows after the death of a military man. The wife/partner of a dying or deceased man submits a request for the extraction of his sperm and obtains the court’s permission to use it.
- special laws on DRT;
- national registries for treatment and for donors;
- inclusive access: treatment and donor services are available to everyone who needs them;
- genetic testing: access to genetic testing of embryos;
- transparency: non-anonymous donation with disclosure of the donor’s identity to children;
- full financing of the treatment of four cycles of intrauterine insemination and six cycles of IVF/ICSI throughout the country;
- funded psychological support as part of infertility treatment;
- policy makers consult with patient associations about policy and legislative changes;
- state training programs on infertility.
By the way: only four countries have a state fertility education program (France, Germany, Latvia and Great Britain)
Oleksandr Yuzko believes that the Ukrainian field of reproductive medicine works well, stably, despite the war and other conditions in which Ukrainians found themselves.
“In our country, it is regulated quite democratically: not by one law, but by Family Codes, Civil Codes, laws on labor protection, laws on foreigners, and Order No. 787 of the Ministry of Health. The last one is so successful that it is copied in Europe and we are proud of it.” says the professor.
Experts admit: there are issues related to the development of assisted reproductive technologies in Ukraine that need to be resolved.
“We are in favor of settling many issues, but not through bans. Because this draft law will set our reproductive medicine back years. It is necessary to go not from top to bottom (from the Cabinet), but on the contrary – from patients, listen to religious communities, lawyers, the professional association and submit a ready alternative draft law to the Verkhovna Rada”, – says the vice president of UARM Valery Zukin.
Maria Ionova mentions that as part of the VRU of the VII convocation, there was an initiative of the UARM to ensure that the field of reproductive medicine was regulated and that each clinic did not interpret its activities in its own way. At that time, many meetings were held and a draft law was drafted, but it was rejected. They returned to it in 2019 and did not achieve results either. The People’s Deputy emphasizes that the state should be interested in the development of the field of reproductive medicine and do everything possible for the nation to grow.
People’s deputy, volunteer doctor Yana Zinkevich adds that servicemen and women who are currently defending our independence may have health problems, including reproductive ones. In addition, during a demographic crisis, wars, when many people are afraid to become parents, the restrictions that are in the government bill are simply inappropriate.
