IVF bill approved by Parliament

The controversial IVF bill was approved by Parliament on Monday evening following the Opposition's decision to drop its proposed amendment in order to allow surrogacy in exceptional cases.

The bill was approved in its third reading with Labour MP Michael Farrugia seconding the bill, on the instance of the government benches. The two sides of the House have been discussing the controversial bill for the last couple of weeks.

The only MP who had threatened to vote against the Bill, self declared conservative, Labour MP Adrian Vassallo was not present when the voting took place.

The Opposition said that it did not want to hold-up the whole process and run the risk of having Parliament dissolved before the bill is approved.

During the discussion at committee stage on Monday afternoon, Labour MP Owen Bonnici withdrew a proposed amendment which would allow surrogate pregnancies in exceptional cases such as when a women would not be able to have her frozen eggs implanted in her in the case of an accident.

Labour had proposed that in such cases the woman should be able to choose a surrogate mother to carry her frozen eggs.

Health Minister Joseph Cassar had earlier moved an amendment which retains the number of eggs which may be implanted during IVF treatment at two. However according to Cassar's amendment the number can increase to three in exceptional cases, such as the advanced age of the prospective mother.