The changes proposed to the Embry Protection Act have everything to do with dehumanising the embryo, former PN Minister Tonio Fenech said in an opinion article being published in this newspaper.
Last week, Health Minister Chris Fearne announced that the government will propose embryo freezing, however it is being tied to anonymous adoption of any remaining embryos to other couples or individuals. The amendments to the 2012 IVF law also propose the introduction of gamete donation and non-commercial surrogacy.
In his opinion article, former minister Fenech states that “the changes proposed to the Embryo Protection Act in fact have nothing to do with the protection of the embryo and everything with dehumanising the embryo by calling it a fertilised egg that can be frozen. An egg only lives for a day, a fertilised egg which is no longer called an egg but an embryo can live for years.”
He says that adoption is a lie, “because 30% of the frozen embryos will die when they are being defrosted”.
He highlights that there are “natural reasons why frozen embryos will be abandoned and never adopted, stating that those frozen “are knowingly of poorer quality then the two originally planted in the mother.” He also said that couples seeking IVF will try to use their own gamete and only source what is needed as everyone would like the child to be at least in part biologically his or hers. So this Act will actually see hundreds of embryos, if not thousands frozen with no purpose. What will happen to them?” he asked, adding that in many countries over time, machines are switched off and these humans are allowed to die or equally bad, given away for experimentation. Where does this Act protect the embryo, the human life? The title of the Act itself has become a lie.”
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