The Gift of Life foundation said it strongly objects to the suggestion Nationalist MP DR. Jean-Pierre Farrugia was reported to have made in relation to ‘fiscal incentives’ to encourage couples to implant or adopt frozen human embryos left over after IVF treatment.
The foundation said Dr. Farrugia’s statement in this regard is in itself an admission that the recent recommendations made by the parliamentary select committee on assisted procreation to allow for regular freezing of human embryos as part of regular IVF treatment, will indeed result in unavoidable stockpiles of unwanted human embryos – presenting this country with an ethical quandary.
“The committee chairman had in the past weeks vigorously defended the position that the adoption mechanism proposed by the committee for stored frozen embryos would somehow resolve this problem in its entirety. Dr. Farrugia is now suggesting that couples should be incentivized through fiscal measures to have these stored frozen embryos implanted or adopted,” the foundation said.
The foundations went on to say that “once the absolute respect, value and dignity of human life from conception are lost, it is only a matter of time before other equally disturbing ideas are considered as society degrades morally.”
“Incentivizing women to implant frozen embryos, whether through private or public funds is ethically wrong on numerous levels. Society as a whole frowns upon the trading of human organs donation for the same reasons. Tax payers’ money is also paid by people who may disagree with the concept of freezing of embryos. Human life is not a commodity that can be bought or sold. This suggestion is analogous to the exploitation of human embryos.” The Gift of Life foundation concluded.