A bill for on fertility treatment is to be brought before Parliament this spring after being put on hold for two years. Minister of Justice Johannes Koskinen (SDP) says that the wording of the proposed legislation is to be nearly identical to what it was the previous time.
The controversial proposal would allow single women and female couples access to fertility treatment, and it would give children born as the result of fertility treatment the right to know their biological fathers once they reach legal age.
Currently Finland lacks any legislation on fertility treatment, which means that the selection of those taken into treatment is made by the health care personnel themselves.
If the legislation is passed, it will bring to an end more than 20 years of vacillation over the issue. Currently more than 1,500 children in Finland - more than two percent of all newborn babies - are born as a result of fertility treatment.
The first proposal for legislation on fertility treatment was made in 1984, but the bill did not make it into law. The issue was examined again in the late 1980s and early '90s.
Most recently, the government brought a bill on the issue before Parliament in late 2002. The government withdrew the bill in February 2003.
The move came after the Parliament's Law Committee tried to amend the proposal by removing parts that would allow fertility treatment to single women and female couples.
The need for legislation on fertility treatment will become more apparent in March, when the so-called treatment guarantee comes into effect, setting maximum waiting times for medical treatments in public health care.
