Poland’s new parliament debates reversing a ban on government funding for in vitro fertilization

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s new parliament is debating the reinstatement of government funding for in vitro fertilization as its first legislation following elections in which the conservative party that had banned it lost control of the legislature. Members of the new centrist majority said in parliament Wednesday that it was symbolic to begin their term with work on abolishing one of the bans introduced by the outgoing right-wing government. The lawmakers say thousands of childless couples in the shrinking nation of some 38 million are waiting for the return of government support for IVF. State funding was introduced in 2013 by a liberal government led by Donald Tusk, but the subsequent conservative government banned it in 2016, saying the procedure involved destroying human embryos.