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Catholic Church sparks furious IVF debate in Croatia
Sun Feb 27, 6:32 PM ET
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ZAGREB (AFP) - Croatia's highly conservative Catholic Church has sparked outrage from parents and rights groups after it condemned in-vitro fertilization (IVF) as a "crime against human life".
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"It was so hard for me to hear such statements since I'm a believer and during my attempts to get pregnant with medical help I was sending all my prayers to the dear Lord and Our Lady," Daniela Saponjic told AFP.
The 36-year-old businesswoman from the southern Adriatic town of Split underwent infertility treatments for eight years until her son, Luka, born on April 8, 2002, was conceived in her fourth IVF attempt in a Zagreb hospital.
For Daniela and the parents of some 15,000 artificially conceived babies in Croatia, their children are little miracles.
But for Croatia's Catholic bishops, IVF is tantamount to a crime against humanity.
"Medically assisted reproduction represents a serious crime against human life and its dignity," they said in a recent declaration.
The bishops urged people to think about the embryos, which they numbered at 285,000, which were "killed or frozen" during the procedure, which involves the artificial fertilisation of a human egg in a laboratory.
The Church also distributed a brochure entitled "A child -- a gift or an object?" which claimed that children are "transformed into an object" during the procedure.
IVF babies, the bishops explained, had "significantly more health problems, disorders and diseases" as well as "a series of psychological and psychiatric disorders."
Gynecologist Damir Bukovic, speaking at a press conference for the association of Catholic doctors, asserted that the main cause of infertility was the "irresponsible behavior of young people."
"The best medical book is the Bible, which says have only one partner," he said.
Fresh from a public relations disaster last year when bishops sought exemptions from tough new drink driving laws due to the traditional offerings of wine at Holy Communion, the Church's latest attack on artificial insemination has provoked a new wave of anguish in this deeply Catholic country.
Women's groups and parent organizations have led a chorus of protest, while a group of independent medical experts slammed the "rude lies and disinformation" being spread by the leaders of the Croatian Church.
Croatia's current law on medically assisted reproduction dates back to 1978, when the world's first "test-tube baby" was born. Croatia had its first IVF baby five years later.
A new bill has been in the offing for the past eight years, allowing donations of eggs and embryos and infertility treatments for single women. But the draft law has never reached parliament, many believe due to strong opposition from the Church.
Beneath all the outrage about drink driving laws and IVF babies there is a deeper issue of the Catholic Church's place in Croatian society.
Oppressed during the communist years after World War II, the Church has re-emerged since Croatia won independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 to reclaim its assumed role as the guardian of national values.
But while 88 percent of Croatia's 4.4 million people are Catholics, the country is changing and the Church is battling to maintain its privileges of power. Croatia's new political elite are almost unanimous in supporting the secular values espoused by the European Union (news - web sites), which Zagreb hopes to join by the end of the decade.
"By such extremely inhuman and non-ethical statements the Church has affected mainly its own flock," Mirjana Krizmanic, a social psychologist, told AFP.
"The parents of such children are being made to feel guilty. It's a rather surprising move for the Church, which claims to understand and help all people."
Krizmanic said the Church's outbursts would only strengthen secularism in Croatia, and perhaps even drive some believers to review their faith.
But for Daniela, the bishops were having no influence on her faith in God as she gathered the "physical and emotional strength" to try for her second IVF baby.
"Faith is something you either have or you don't. I perceive all this as a challenge," she said.
