Health Minister defends IVF law after Gozo bishop’s missive

Corrected on 3 April 2012 on comments from pro-life lobby Gift Of Life.

Health Minister Joe Cassar has defended plans for the government's regulation of assisted reproduction technology, insisting that the new law will not introduce any abortive technology.

His comments come in the aftermath of a strong homily by Gozo bishop Mario Grech on Sunday, in which he lambasted the industry behind in vitro fertilisation as "morally unacceptable", echoing the Vatican's official stand on assisted reproduction.

Cassar told MaltaToday shortly after a press conference at the Mosta health centre that he was "full of admiration" for Bishop Grech, and that Grech had "every right to say what he feels".

"This will all depend on what kind of technology is going to be introduced. Certain technologies can be abortive, but with this new law, assisted reproductive technology will not be abortive," Cassar said.

Cassar also insisted that the artifical reproductive technology legislation will be based on full respect towards human life, from the moment of conception and said that embryo freezing is today surpassed by newer technology which looks at freezing of gametes.

The law, to be presented in Cabinet in the next weeks, is viewed with suspicion by the Catholic Church which is diametrically opposed to the conception of human life outside the conjugal bond.

In his homily, Grech said the freezing or discarding of human embryos - produced in excess through the pharmacological hyper-stimulation of infertile women - was an "abortive" practice, and that frozen embryos implanted late after their development could develop mental health problems later in life.

The Gozo bishop also lambasted the "imagined right" of parents who wanted to have children, as against the right of children created through assisted reproduction.

"I appeal to politicians, particularly Catholic politicians, not to foster the culture of death when this law is discussing in parliament. This law must safeguard the child's interest from conception. Embryos must not be manipulated or frozen."

The freezing of additional embryos can result when a multiple number of ova are simultaenously fertilised with human sperm, which then will either develop into blastocysts or simply do not reach blastocyst stage over the course of some five days. When doctors implant a blastocyst inside a woman, the additional embryos can be frozen and implanted at a later stage.

In a statement, the spokesperson for pro-life lobbyists Gift Of Life said pro-life MPs could not concede to the freezing of human embryos when the practice of oocyte vitrification - the freezing of the female egg - could be provided as an alternative.

"We are concerned about attempts by some to somehow justify the deeply unethical practice of embryo freezing as part of regular IVF treatment," spokesperson Paul Vincenti said.

"The reasons given are to increase the success rate of the treatment. Gift of Life rejects any proposal which includes any form of regular embryo freezing. The human person can never be considered to have less value and thus relegated to a level of a commodity and a means to an end."

Vincenti said a situation where extra embryos had to be frozen should not be created by fertiliszing more than the suggested two embryos being proposed, and to avoid building a stockpile of "unclaimed" frozen embryos.