In vitro fertilisation and embryo freezing

I am writing from the United States in regard to the proposal in Malta to regularise in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and to begin freezing embryos. I have a science background, having worked for many years in molecular biology laboratories and in health care. I am aware of and understand the procedure used to create embryos used in IVF.

Malta has been an example of clear thinking, courage and morality with regard to the right to life. Your laws against abortion reflect the actions of a highly civilised culture, and you put many of the rest of us to shame.

I love my country but we in the US have failed to protect the most vulnerable members of society by legalising abortion. Legalised abortion here has desensitised many Americans, because the horror of eliminating unwanted babies is too difficult to face.

Because of the mentality that grew up out of abortion, we tolerated other procedures that objectify and dehumanise our people, such as IVF.

And as the practice of IVF continues, many here have become further desensitised, so that freezing these tiny humans is something that we can somehow tolerate. Abortion and IVF are manifestations of the same mentality. In vitro fertilisation has left us with terrible ethical dilemmas in the United States. In thinking about this procedure, we should never overlook the fundamental fact that the embryos are created in an immoral and dehumanising way that destroys the dignity of everyone involved.

But additionally, we all know that many embryos are “leftover”, since the “best” ones are chosen for implantation. There is now scientific evidence to support what sensible people of goodwill have always known: a human being comes into existence at the moment of conception. We should not turn away from the fact that these embryos, despite existing as a result of a procedure that belongs in a science fiction film, are humans. They cannot possibly be anything else. They have all the genetic material and all the biochemical mechanisms that they will ever need to direct all of their further development. They have human parents, therefore they are human. The only difference between putting these embryos in a freezer and discarding them later, and doing the same thing to children that have been born, is the elapse of nine months.

In sanctioning IVF, you will be legally condoning an immoral procedure that contaminates the moral fibre of my country and so many others. When these very young humans are frozen, they are being treated as objects, to be held in an unnatural state, possibly used in scientific experiments without the ability to give their consent, and very likely having to be subjected to the ultimate injustice and indignity: being discarded like trash. Please continue to be the exemplary leaders you have been for the rest of us as we struggle to overturn abortion and related procedures such as IVF.