Nisa Laburisti propose embryo freezing and surrogacy, prompting a tweet from Archbishop Charles Scicluna that a woman’s womb should not be turned into a commodity. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Experts consulted by the Times of Malta are divided on the proposal to allow embryo freezing but stand united against surrogacy.

As the government reviews the IVF law, Nisa Laburisti have proposed embryo freezing and surrogacy, in turn prompting a tweet from Archbishop Charles Scicluna that a woman’s womb should not be turned into a commodity.

The IVF law – allowing the fertilisation of two eggs and no embryo freezing – is extremely restrictive, according to Paul Sultana, IVF practitioner and laboratory director at Saint James Hospital.

Following the 2012 law, when the two-egg limit was imposed, the IVF success rate was slashed from over 58 per cent to 28 per cent.

Unfertilised eggs are frozen in case the procedure fails (with the aim being to relieve the mother from repeating hormone therapy to stimulate the production of eggs) but only two eggs may be used in the fertilisation process.

Embryo freezing is the best practice, Mr Sultana believes, allowing for the best success rate with the least negative outcomes.

He is also in favour of egg and sperm donation. “It’s like divorce; you might not wish to go for it yourself, but why hinder the option for others?”

However, when it comes to surrogacy, Mr Sultana has his reservations. “I’m not against gay couples having children, but there are consequences of surrogacy. Basically, you’re hiring a womb and with that come ramifications, such as that of payment.”

The Embryo Protection Act safeguarded human life and reflected Maltese values, Faculty of Theology dean Fr Emmanuel Agius said. A balance had to be struck between the couple’s desire for children and the rights of the prospective child.

“What is the moral and legal status of the embryo? Science is clear: an embryo is the beginning of human life. What Nisa Laburisti is proposing is the destruction of human life,” he said.

Surrogacy flung the door wide open for the commercialisation of women’s wombs and rendered children a commodity to be sold. What would the emotional effects be on a woman who, following the bond established during gestation, would have to give up the baby? Prof. Fr Agius asked.

Fr Mark Sultana, who lectures in philosophical theology and is a member of the Bioethics Committee, stressed that the fruit of IVF was a human person with inherent dignity and a sense of identity.

In a sense, with surrogacy, there would be three to five parents involved, especially if sperm and egg donors were used and the baby was given to a different couple. “The woman who carried and gave birth to the baby is very important for the person’s identity,” Fr Sultana said. “Surrogacy can breed a certain sense of confusion and ambiguity in a person’s identity.”

There were a number of practical and legal issues that could arise, such as the type of contract the surrogate mother would have signed with the eventual parents, her relationship with the baby she would need to give away and what would happen in the event that the child was born disabled.

Freezing embryos raised the concern of their fate once years went by and they were not thawed.

Charles Savona Ventura, head of obstetrics and gynaecology, pointed out that surrogacy had a long history and was not a new phenomenon. It was referred to in the Old Testament when Rachel offered her maid Bilhah to her spouse Jacob to serve as an alternative, surrogate spouse. However, the concept of commercial surrogacy came to the fore in the 1980s.

There were situations where surrogacy could be contemplated such as with women who had no uterus either through a congenital malformation or surgery, Prof. Savona Ventura said. “But, on the whole, society, especially Maltese society, is badly geared to deal with these issues and surrogacy will therefore cause more problems than it would be solving.

“This is more despicable if surrogacy is undertaken simply because a woman does not wish to go through the travail of pregnancy and childbirth in spite of wishing to have a family because of body changes and career,” he said.

The introduction of freezing embryos could increase the success rate of artificial reproductive technology in Malta but the introduction of regularly freezing extra embryos would create administrative problems for the government, not considering the moral dimension, he added.

“In the words of the ‘Yes Minister’ BBC series, it will be a very ‘courageous’ minister and government who will propose the legislation of commercial surrogacy and the freezing of embryos.”