Artificial insemination may be free for some in Azerbaijan
By Nigar Orujova
Certain groups of the population in Azerbaijan may be entitled to free extracorporeal artificial insemination, a senior lawmaker said on October 29.
According to Musa Guliyev, deputy chairman of the parliamentary committee on social policy, the draft law on "Family planning and reproductive health", which reflects the issue, has been offered to be put up for discussion again at the autumn session of the Milli Majlis.
Infertility is defined as one year of attempting to become pregnant without success. Infertility affects men and women equally and may be caused by infection, but often there is no obvious underlying cause.
The mentioned draft law envisions extracorporeal insemination using reproductive technologies on account of state budget funds.
According to Guliyev, this operation is quite expensive and should be carried out at the expense of the state budget for socially vulnerable groups of the population.
On the other hand, if mandatory health insurance is to be implemented in the country, artificial fertilization may be included in the mandatory package of health services.
"In case the law is adopted, we want to conduct artificial insemination with public funds only for those who are in need of social support. For others this service may be offered in the mandatory health insurance package. The issue is presently under discussion," he said.
According to Guliyev, the most important and urgent issue in the draft law is a ban on selective abortion in the country.
Artificial insemination has been successfully conducted in Azerbaijan since 2004 and some 40-45 percent of those deciding to undergo artificial insemination in the country achieve positive results, while in Europe the rate of successful inseminations is 30-35 percent.