Alternattiva Demokratika – The Green Party said that Government should stop procrastinating on the IVF issue, and should instead introduce a fair and ethical policy. Michael Briguglio, AD Chairperson said, “The State should not be held hostage by the fundamentalist lobby which resorts to confessional tactics to demonise those who are for a fair and ethical policy on IVF. The plain truth is that lack of such policies means that hundreds of persons are being denied the right to be parents or are being forced to resort to procreation methods which have health risks. Malta should once and for all decide whether it is a European country or whether it is to allow fundamentalists dictate its social policies.”

Ralph Cassar, AD Secretary General, said, “The government’s procrastination in bringing IVF legislation based on the very cautious and mild proposals made by the parliamentary committee on assisted procreation is irresponsible and is letting vulnerable people be subjected to the irresponsible and dangerous practice of implanting 3 or more fertilised eggs – with the risk of dangerous multiple pregnancies, putting both the mothers’ and babies lives at risk. The risks of death with triple births, often premature births, increases eighteen fold, together with a high risk of cerebral palsy.”

“The pressure put on the national health system is also an issue with private clinics off-loading the problems they created on the public health care system. This is not something we are inventing, these are very pertinent and important issues raised by experts who appeared before the parliamentary committee. Whereas paediatricians have demanded that no more than two fertilized eggs at the cleavage stage are transferred in the womb till today 3 or 4 fertilized eggs are being transferred. The freezing of fertilised eggs – scientifically the term used is embryos – is necessary to prevent and stop the life-threatening practices currently going on uncontrolled and unregulated.”

“Contrary to reports in the media of comments from people who it seems are not concerned about the risks of multiple pregnancies, IVF is no different from the ‘natural’ fertilization process – in which fertilised eggs which are not implanted in the womb are lost – without anyone ever realizing. Campaigns which depict and try to peddle the freezing of the minimum necessary number of embryos (fertilized eggs) for safe IVF as ‘freezing a live baby’ are irresponsible, disrespectful and downright misleading.”

“As usual there is an attempt to demonise those who do not hold ultra-conservative views and seek a balance between helping people become mothers and totally unregulated practices. The scaremongering campaign is even more unreasonable when the committee avoided much tougher and more challenging issues. There is a growing tendency from some quarters especially within the ranks of the current government to pander to the most conservative and fundamentalist elements of society as if there is just one, homogeneous point of view on such issues.”

Ralf Cassar concluded, “the late Rev. Peter Serracino Inglott’s testimony before the parliamentary committee, who argued that the state should not legislate against embryo freezing, is witness to the multiple and varied points of view – even from the moral and ethical perspective – which exist on controlled and regulated embryo freezing. Most probably IVF legislation will not make it through parliament in this legislature – leaving the door open to dangerous practices risking the lives of mothers and babies alike.”

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