Import can, surrogate not, support and treatment of male sterility

The permitted import of gametes and embryos when they cannot be provided in Montenegro, a greater number of attempts at medically assisted fertilization (MPO) at the expense of the state, as well as the right to one treatment procedure for male infertility using the Micro TESE method, are foreseen in the text of two laws on was discussed in the Parliament these days.

Through amendments to the Law on Mandatory Health Insurance, among other things, it was proposed that couples and women without partners who do not have children, at the expense of the state, be allowed to keep embryos for up to one year - until the woman turns 45. Four transfers of those embryos are planned, until the woman reaches the age of 50.

Three or two procedures and embryo preservation are also planned for couples who already have children.

The amendments also proposed that at the expense of the state insured persons suffering from a malignant or other serious disease whose treatment can lead to infertility, if they do not have children and are up to 37 years old, the preservation of fertility and the preservation of reproductive material for five or 10 years.

For the first time, through the proposed amendments, the insurance right to one male infertility treatment procedure using the Micro TESE method is recognized for the implementation of MPO procedures. Micro TESE is a method of obtaining spermatozoa from testicular tissue and is used in men who, due to disorders in the production of spermatozoa in the ejaculate, have no spermatozoa (azoospermia).

Amendments to the Law on Compulsory Health Insurance related to infertility treatment were proposed by the deputy Boris Mugoša and epistles Danijela Đurović, Branka Bosniak, Simonida Kordić, Tamara Vujović, Kenana Strujić Harbić i Draginja Vuksanović Stanković.

Mugoša, Đurović, Bošnjak, Vujović, Strujić Harbić, Vuksanović Stanković, and Vesna Pavićević i Bozena Jelušić they also proposed 24 amendments to the Draft Law on MPO. Although the possibility of allowing a surrogate was also mentioned at the committees, surrogate motherhood is not among the amendments, so if the Bill receives the support of the deputies, the surrogate will still be prohibited.

The amendments foresee allowing the import of gametes, tissues and embryos, when they can be provided in Montenegro.

"In the process of importing sex tissues, sex cells and embryos, traceability must be ensured from the donor to the recipient and vice versa. It is allowed to import sex tissues, sex cells and embryos from a bank that meets the quality and safety requirements in accordance with this law and the law regulating the taking and transplanting of tissues and cells", the proposed amendment reads.

It was also proposed to allow scientific research work on embryos that are not suitable for introduction into the uterus of a woman, that should be destroyed and that the persons from whom they originate do not want to use for their own MPO procedure, nor to donate them.

The amendments also extend the period for which genetic material can be stored, and it was proposed that the Clinical Center organize a tissue and cell bank five years after the date of entry into force of the law.

The current Law on Infertility Treatment with Assisted Reproductive Technologies was adopted in 2009, but the accompanying bylaws were never adopted.