Medically assisted procreation (MAP) has historically been a politically contested and divisive issue even when it came to straight couples, but for LGBTIQ ones it has been even more so.
This campaign brings to the surface the legislative and real-life hurdles when it comes to equal access to MAP for female couples, single women, transgender men and sometimes even heterosexual couples in Croatia.
In Croatia, many same-sex couples and single women wish to have children. The only problem is that the infrastructure and the procedures that are readily available to heterosexual partners are not available to homosexual ones.
Contrary to public perception, there isn’t a general lack of technical know-how or medical expertise, nor is there a boycott of medical professionals when it comes to LGBTIQ patients.
The issue is that Croatian laws strictly forbid lesbian couples to request access to MAP procedures and make it barely (or de-facto) impossible for single women and transgender men to get publicly financed MAP procedures, something that is available to other, straight couples.
Given the current restrictive legislation governing MAP and considering the fact that Croatia doesn’t have a sperm bank, a lot of couples and individuals are basically forced to seek help abroad and, as is often the case, pay for it out of their own pocket.
Germany, Austria, Spain and Cyprus are just some of the countries that have seen Croatian clients knocking on the doors of their fertility clinics.
Given the fact that the age of first-time mothers has steadily been rising and that women in general are starting to think about becoming mothers at a later age, giving timely access to these procedures (emphasis on timely) is of the utmost importance.
Most women are in a battle against time, and the last thing they need at that point is a battle against discriminatory legislation and the state.
For a country obsessed with demographic decline, it’s surprising that Croatia still has this out-of-date legislation. Not only does it contradict the stated goals of politicians, it also contradicts the spirit of the Declaration of Geneva, which states that one’s sexual orientation will not be a factor when deciding to provide medical treatment.
And most importantly, it deprives lesbian couples, single women and transgender men of parenthood, even though there is scientific consensus that children raised by single women or same-sex female couples show no significant difficulties in any developmental areas compared to children raised by a female-male couple.
Interested in collaborating with us? Send us a message, or mail us at hq@popola.agency
