Correspondence Between Legislation and Public Opinion in Bulgaria about Accessto Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART)

Introduction: This is the first study on the correspondence between the legislation and public opinion in Bulgaria regarding access to assisted reproductive technologies (ART).

Methods: We carried out a national on-line-based cross-sectional survey in the Bulgarian language from July 2010 until June 2011. Participants were 951 respondents from 18 to 65 years of age who independently completed the anonymous survey. We were interested in: 1) Attitudes about a woman’s age limit for ART, 2) the rate of acceptance of access of single women to ART, 3) the rate of approval of access of lesbian couples to ART, 4) the degree of acceptance of post-mortem assisted reproduction (PAR).

Results: Most of the respondents (54.9%) approved of a woman’s age limit of 43 years. The majority of the respondents (85.4%) supported access of single women to ART, while 45.1% of the participants approved of lesbians using assisted reproductive technologies (ART). Approximately 71.7% of the respondents stated they would permit PAR.

Conclusions: People prefer 43 years as a woman’s age limit for ART. The majority of the respondents accept access of single women to ART, but a two-fold lower percentage considers that lesbians should be allowed to use ART. The majority of the respondents are proponents of PAR.