No fuss about something

Creeping in under cover of that rare Maltese phenomenon – bipartisan support – through a report authored by a bipartisan House Committee, embryo freezing will shortly be discussed in Parliament and may soon become a reality of Maltese law.

For this reason, we, a group of individuals from medical and other professions believe it should be pointed out what is being proposed and why we stand against it.

Embryos are the earliest form of human life. When a sperm from a man meets the ovum of a woman, the zygote formed is the earliest embryo – a new human life with its own unique genetic code, that is, its own determined eye colour, skin colour, hair colour, sex and other features. This human life, being left to its own devices in the womb, would have a good chance of developing into a baby boy or girl, being born and growing into a voting adult and a full member of our society entitled to all human rights conferred to him/her by our Constitution.

However, this process sometimes occurs outside the womb when medical science intervenes to help people with fertility problems to conceive and have children. This is the process of IVF or in vitro fertilisation.

Presently in Malta, and also in other countries like Italy, all embryos produced by IVF are implanted so as to give them an equal chance to develop fully. We, as a lobby group that values human life from its very beginning, strongly affirm the IVF legislation under discussion should continue to affirm this practice.

Regrettably, what is now being proposed by a report produced by some of our elected parliamentary representatives is that these human lives should undergo a game of Russian roulette whereby some are implanted to develop and be welcomed into the adoring hands and hearts of prospective mothers and fathers while others are placed in deep freeze, most likely never to develop but remain as cruel experimental by-products. In fact, in some other countries, these embryos are eventually discarded or used for experimental research (which includes destruction of the embryo), a far cry from the love showered upon their brothers and sisters.

This report suggests spare (frozen) embryos would also get a chance to develop and to receive a loving upbringing – by means of embryo adoption. Those who produced the report have said they are sure of this because they assert the amount of people in Malta wanting to adopt children is greater than the amount of spare embryos to be allegedly produced.

What is comfortably being glossed over is that adopting a child and adopting an embryo are by no means one and the same. The latter would involve the adopting mother to undergo a nine-month pregnancy (with its own natural risks) using embryos left over by others. These embryos could have biological sisters and brothers in the Maltese community should they be brought to term. Apart from biological parents round the corner, not in Russia or Ethiopia.

Also, one would expect that if a choice of embryos for implantation is available, IVF service providers would most obviously implant the best (healthiest) embryos in their clients leaving the spare (less healthy) ones to the freezer and whatever fate awaits them. Would prospective parents be willing to risk a pregnancy with what may be these second choice embryos? The thawing process in itself kills some embryos. Would one accept those who survived the thaw?

In every place where embryo freezing occurs, a huge surplus of embryos are produced and eventually, over time, discarded. To give an example, there are cases where for one implantation more than 10 embryos are produced with only two being implanted. This is despicable.

To our colleagues, whose report proposes embryo freezing, we say: Let us not kid ourselves and others that embryo freezing is an alternative happy ending. It is not.

These embryos are human life at its most raw and vulnerable. We believe the authors of this report are aware of this humanity and are therefore proposing their own suggestions on how to care for these embryos – adoption. And those who are not adopted? It is anathema to suggest the freezing of those one cares for.

Let us not lose our beautiful tradition of respecting human life from its beginning. In so doing, we will run the risk of losing respect for humanity in general. And that means you and me.

This article was written on behalf of the Professionals Against Freezing of Embryos.

Dr Schembri-Wismayer is head, Department of Anatomy at the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery of the University of Malta.