Czech Labour Ministry Opposes IVF for Single Women: Draft Bill Slammed

The Czech Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, headed by Aleš Juchelka (ANO), has sharply criticised a Health Ministry bill that would allow single women without a male partner to undergo artificial insemination. Under current law, the procedure is available only to heterosexual couples facing difficulties conceiving naturally.

"We disagree with the proposed change, as it represents a fundamental departure from the current concept of regulating assisted reproduction in the Czech Republic," the ministry stated in its position paper. According to the ministry, the procedure should remain available only to those with genuine medical fertility problems.

From Treatment to Fulfilling Wishes

In a fifteen-page opinion, the Labour Ministry argues that the bill would shift the very purpose of artificial insemination — from treating infertility to satisfying a person's reproductive desire. "If there are no medical indications, this is no longer a medical service," the document stresses.

The ministry also points out that the changes would affect the process of establishing paternity, the legal status of the child, and family law as a whole. In Juchelka's ministry's view, enshrining such a norm in law would effectively legitimise the deliberate creation of single-mother families. "It is best for a child to grow up in a complete family. The child's right always outweighs the right to have a child," the ministry said.

How the System Works Now

Under the current rules, insurance companies cover up to three attempts at in-vitro fertilisation for women, and in exceptional cases, four. Entitlement to insurance-funded treatment ends the day before a woman's 40th birthday, although doctors may continue treatment up to age 49 — after 40, patients must pay for it themselves.

Amendments to the law on specific medical services, drafted by the Health Ministry, underwent public consultation until the end of July. More than forty agencies and ministries reviewed the draft. Some of them — including the Human Rights Commissioner and the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Culture and Education — raised no objections to the provision on artificial insemination for women without a partner.

The Government Office, for its part, demanded that the explanatory memorandum clearly state whether assisted reproduction remains a medical service for treating infertility or whether its purpose is being redefined.

Coalition Disagreements

Other members of the ruling coalition also raised serious objections to the bill. Boris Šťastný, Minister of Sport, Prevention and Healthcare (Motorists party), said the proposed change would turn assisted reproduction from a medical treatment into a means of satisfying reproductive desire in the absence of medical indications.

Agriculture Minister Martin Šebestyán (SPD) and Justice Minister Jeroným Tejc (ANO) also oppose the draft. Both cite the government's policy statement, which names traditional marriage as the priority in shaping demographic policy, calling it the most stable environment for raising children.

Despite the criticism, the Health Ministry intends to revise the draft to take the feedback into account. "Justified comments will be duly incorporated as the draft is further refined. Once this process is complete, the material will be moved on to the next stages of the legislative procedure," said Health Ministry spokesman Martin Novotný, adding that it is still too early to say which specific comments will be accepted or what final form the law will take.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz