A Polish bishop has authorised a petition campaign calling for in vitro fertilisation to be made an offence punishable by up to three years prison and for embryonic stem cell research to be subject to five to twenty five years jail. 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.
Committee head, Jacek Kotula, from Tyczyn in south eastern Poland, claims the group aims to propose legislation before the Sejm, the lower house of parliament, after collecting enough signatures.
The Committee proposes 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.
The group has also proposed a law providing for five to 25 years prison for anyone who engages in embryonic stem cell research.
The "Contra In Vitro" Committee has 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," Fr Jacek Uchan of the Elk parish, north eastern Poland, told Polskie Radio.
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(Source: CTHN)