2 comments so far.AD calls on Parliament to amend law on feezing embryos
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Alternattiva Demokratika – The Green Party said today that it calls on Parliament to amend the law proposed by the government to regulate IVF to allow the freezing of fertilised cells and expressed disappointment at the labour opposition failure to contrast the confessional legislation proposed by the government.
AD recalled that freezing was already foreseen in a report prepared by a Parliamentary Committee chaired by MP Jean Pierre Farrugia which included the opposition.
Michael Briguglio, AD Chairperson said, “while we welcome scientific developments like the freezing of ova instead of fertilized eggs, we cannot let parents with fertility problems depend on an experimental technology. We insist that they have a right to use technology used in other advanced European countries.”
AD also notes labour’s failure to question the proposed discrimination against same sex couples as the law limits the access to IVF to heterosexual couples.
Michael Briguglio stated, “we appeal MPs to present amendments to ensure the new law is not discriminatory and to lift the proposed ban on freezing. The country cannot be held to ransom by a minority of fundamentalists who ignore the advice given by luminaries like the late Peter Serracino Inglott who made it clear that freezing cannot be considered to be a way of killing the embryo since it is keeping it alive.”
Mr. Briguglio says, “freezing cannot be considered to be a way of killing the embryo since it is keeping it alive”
And if a couple stores 10 embryos, do you think all ten will be kept alive forever? Or that they will be allowed to grow into 10 people? That is not what happens in other countries.
Dear All
may I remind AD and all those who think alike, that parents with fertility problems are at times being misled as to what new fertility technologies are about. It is true that many IVF embryos have less chance to survive than if they were in natural circumstances. This holds true whether embryos are frozen or not. It is all a question of whether one believes that an embryo has human rights or whether embryos are just a commodity to use , store , discard, experiment with etc. Vitrification of oocytes is showing promising results as is ‘natural cycle IVF’ and ‘mild stimulation’ IVF which are giving very similar ‘take home baby rate’ as conventional high drug dose and mass productuion of oocytes /embryos IVF. One must understand that gynaecology and more so infertility often do not follow the rules prior to embarking on new techniques as do many other specialities. To give one eg. when the oral contraceptive pill was introduced in the 1960’s, very high doses of synthetic hormones were used and many more women suffered strokes etc than they do nowadays when pharmaceutical companies are trying to use smaller doses of less synthetic hormones. Another eg would be that in the near past, gynaecologists transferred as many embryos as could be produced with so many preterm babies dying on us.
I also argue against ‘discrimination towards same sex couples’. Gynaecologists in the near past allowed sperm donations as if it was all very mormal until eg in 2005 in the UK anonymous sperm donation became illegal. This is because children born out of anonymous sperm donation, had so many psychological and mental problems trying to find their unknown father and siblings. In fact they felt that their parents had been selfish in giving them life without thinking of their natural need to know who their biological father was to get to know them.
Human life is far more than what science can account for. Humans want to cherish their very origin and their roots. Most of us have been through a fairly turbulent adolescence with all our queries and questioning of our parents.. Many adults who have come across people from such backgrounds, are not convinced that same sex couples will have children that grow up into adults without major problems like anonymous sperm donor children have. In fact, they might have a few more problems to tackle. Maybe we should learn from history and not make assumptions that all would be fine.
There are many details of IVF which nobody but those with expertise in the field would really understand.Unfortunately however, sometimes science can be a dirty game just like politics can be. Maybe it would be very wise to adhere to natural law so as to harm nobody and really ALL would truly benefit.