It is morally acceptable to adopt frozen embryos in order to save a life that would otherwise be destroyed according to Cardinal Francesco Pompedda, a retired prefect of the Apostolic Signature, the Church’s supreme court. Italy’s National Bioethics Committee has approved the adoption of frozen embryos.

A law passed in February 2004 prohibited the destruction of surplus embryos after a woman has IVF treatment.

However, the Italian authorities were left with over 30,000 embryos on their hands and the committee voted in favour of allowing married couples, de facto couples and single persons to adopt the embryos.

Cardinal Pompedda pointed out that donating embryos to another couple is very similar to a married couple conceiving through IVF with the help of a third person, a procedure not allowed by the Church.

Although the Catholic Church opposes IVF, it has not taken any official position on the morality of adopting embryos so far.

In a recent article titled “The Unknown Thousands” published in Lehen is-Sewwa in October, Fr Anton Gouder spoke out against the freezing of embryos after the Social Affairs Committee (SAC) put forward the possibility of freezing embryos in Malta in its recommendations presented to Parliament.

He pointed out that this statement goes against the principle that “assistant reproduction must protect the dignity and integrity of future generations.”

“Is this a contradiction or does the SAC not see freezing embryos as going against the dignity of the embryo?” he wrote

Fr Gouder said there was a contradiction between paragraph 7.2I and 7.2H of the recommendations.

Paragraph 7.2I states the following:

Choice 1: Embryos should not be stored for later use, unless after the ovum is fertilised, the mother falls sick and might endanger the embryos’ health.

Choice 2: Embryos should be stored in conditions which do not harm their health and should be placed in the mother’s womb within a reasonable time period.

Parents who freeze their embryos are responsible to do everything possible to use the embryos. However, freezing the embryos without a valid reason (such as the death of the mother or disease) should be considered a criminal act.

Paragraph 7.2H states the following:

All embryos fertilised through IVF should be placed in the mother’s womb immediately after the process of fertilisation is complete.

Fr Gouder said that making IVF available to married couples and stable couples contrasts with governmen policy of putting the family first before everything else.

The possibility of a third donor was also included in the SAC recommendations.

“This is technically adultery with the couples’ consent... it doesn’t make sense to speak about priorities and values if everything is considered to be the same,” he added.

Care must be taken to prevent the possibility of siblings meeting and getting married, especially since Malta is such a small country. This possibility might arise if couples other than the parents adopt stored embryos.

It is estimated that in 2003, there were about 400,000 frozen embryos in the US. Clinics all over the world are having problems with unwanted frozen embryos.

Many couples are not paying the annual fee, which easily runs into the hundreds, to keep their embryos frozen. Clinics are afraid of destroying them because of potential lawsuits.

However, legislation in Australia states that embryos cannot be frozen for longer than five years. According to Australian newspaper reports, certain clinics have already started destroying embryos.