No request for a free vote on the amendments to the IVF bill was made during Parliamentary Group meetings, the Nationalist Party said. 

In a statement issued on Monday afternoon, the party reiterated that no request for a free vote was made during three Parliamentary Group meetings held on 3, 14 and 27 June.

Robert Cutajar, Whip and Parliamentary Group Secretary, and Mark Anthony Sammut, President of the PN’s general council said that, on 27 June, the Parliamentary Group decided to vote in favour of the Bill after it was improved through the PN’s own amendments.  

They said that, according to the party statute, only the Parliamentary Group can decide to allow a free vote on issues involving matters of conscience and belief.

This means that any request made after and outside of the Parliamentary Group meetings, including on social media, are not in line with the party statute.

While the party did not name any MPs, its statement makes it clear that any requests made to the PN leader directly, rather than to the Parliamentary Group, are not valid. 

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Earlier

Trouble seems to be brewing within the Nationalist Party as a number of MPs have spoken out against the IVF genetic testing amendments, despite PN Leader Bernard Grech saying the party will vote in favour.

The PN had initially been against the proposed amendments, which will allow for pre-implantation genetic testing (PGT) to determine whether the embryo would be prone to serious diseases and conditions.

On Sunday, Grech said the PN would be voting in favour of the law after the government took on board the Opposition’s amendments.

But former party leader Adrian Delia said later that genetic tests on embryos would be endangering life.

“To be clear, I declare that I do not agree with testing embryos that could endanger or be fatal to human life,” he wrote on a Facebook post. He said that tests on the unfertilised eggs of a woman (the oocytes) would not endanger life.

Delia said he will be voting according to his conscience when asked if he plans to vote against the reform.

On Sunday, Grech told MaltaToday that no Nationalist MP had asked for a free vote on the issue. But this was contradicted by Delia, who told the same newspaper on Monday that he had indeed written to Grech asking for a free vote.

MaltaToday reported that other MPs had done the same.

Other MPs have since spoken publicly against the PGT legislation. Mosta MP Ivan Bartolo said that a law that allows genetic testing on embryos cannot be called an ‘Embryo Protection Act’.

“The politician is not God but has responsibility to be accountable to their own conscience,” he said, adding that MPs must remain loyal to their constituents.

Gozitan MP Alex Borg said “we did not come into this world to alter and experiment. Every human life is a miracle different than the next one. From the beginning.”

Delia’s comment was endorsed by veteran MP Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici and promptly followed by Gozitan MP Alex Borg, who also objected to PGT.

Veteran MP Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici also endorsed Adrian Delia’s comment.