Political consensus on embryo freezing is growing although differences exist between medical professionals over when it should be allowed, according to the conclusions of Parliament’s Social Affairs Committee.

After hearing submissions from medical professionals in a two-hour long hearing on Wednesday, committee chairman Edwin Vassallo said both sides had inched closer to consensus although the details had yet to be ironed out.

Medical professionals belonging to the organisation Professionals Against Embryo Freezing admitted that freezing embryos would have to be permitted in certain circumstances such as when implantation of fertilised eggs was not possible because of hyper stimulation in the woman.

However, family doctor Michael Axiak, who is chairman of the government’s Bioethics Advisory Committee, insisted embryo freezing had to be a fallback option and not one necessitated by the process of in vitro fertilisation.

The meeting was the third on the subject that was re-opened after a parliamentary select committee headed by Nationalist backbencher Jean-Pierre Farrugia last year concluded that embryo freezing should be allowed under a law regulating IVF.

The committee also heard Mark Brincat, director of gynaecology and obstetrics at Mater Dei Hospital, make an impassioned plea in favour of embryo freezing. He said this would reduce the risk of multiple pregnancies and give couples the best possible chance of success.

Proposing a middle-of-the-road approach, Prof. Brincat said the target should be to implant two embryos and reduce the risk of multiple pregnancies. However, to achieve this, a higher number of eggs had to be fertilised since natural wastage always happened.

“If we fertilise four eggs to get two embryos but end up with three fertilised eggs instead, what shall we do with the third one? Shall we discard it or forcefully implant it in the woman? Embryo freezing is a fallback option in this case,” Prof. Brincat said in a statement that put him on a collision course with Dr Axiak.

Underlining the suffering endured by couples with fertility problems, Prof. Brincat saidfertilising just one egg to avoid having multiple embryos that could be frozen was “irresponsible” and “disgusting” because it lowered the success rate.

He urged politicians not to propose rigid laws that tried to outline the circumstances in which embryo freezing should be permitted. He argued instead for a regulatory authority that could be flexible in taking decisions depending on the medical circumstances that arose from time to time.

Prof. Brincat said he was in favour of the ethically less problematic egg (oocyte) freezing, a proposal championed by the Health Minister earlier this year and supported by Professionals Against Embryo Freezing.

He noted that Mater Dei Hospital had two oocyte freezers available – the hospital has fully-functional laboratories capable of performing IVF but these have never been used because there is no law regulating the sector and the service is not available on the national health scheme – but insisted this alone would not solve the problem.

“Oocyte freezing has to be available alongside embryo freezing because they are two useful processes that are not mutually exclusive,” Prof. Brincat said, urging the Social Affairs Committee members not to steer far off from the conclusions of the report drafted last year.

Cellular biologist Pierre Schembri Wismayer, a member of Professionals Against Embryo Freezing, argued against restrictive preconditions to embryo freezing and accepted it might be necessary in “some cases of emergency”.

However, he drew a clear distinction between Prof. Brincat’s stand and his own: “To me, the right to life of the embryo is superior to the right of couples to become parents.”

At the end of the meeting, Mr Vassallo summed up the conclusions and said consensus from both sides of the House did exist on the need to allow embryo freezing although this had to be done responsibly.

The debate is expected to continue.

Fertility

• More than 10 per cent of couples getting married today will face some form of fertility problem.

• Three weeks ago, 20 healthy babies were born after they were conceived through IVF.

• On average, some 120 IVF cycles are performed every year.

• Malta has a fertility rate of 1.7.

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