The law on assisted procreation will require doctors to inform couples about the risks of in vitro fertilisation if it goes through in its final draft form, The Sunday Times has learnt.
Finalised by the Bioethics Consultative Committee last Friday, the draft includes a clause making counselling obligatory for couples considering the procedure, and it disallows embryo freezing.
Committee chairman Michael Asciak said the draft would be presented to Social Affairs Minister John Dalli by Tuesday.
"We have included a number of clauses in the draft which will make it mandatory for doctors to give the information in writing so that patients can make an informed decision," he said.
Earlier this month the UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority announced that couples undergoing IVF would be warned of the risks following new research in the US indicating that test-tube babies have a 30 per cent increased risk of suffering from genetic conditions, including heart and digestive system problems.
Although the risks of health problems are higher for IVF babies, Dr Asciak said these were fractional and would not stop people trying to conceive through IVF.
Four years ago, former Children's Commissioner Sonia Camilleri had said during the Parliament's Social Affairs Committee debate on assisted procreation that IVF should be banned because research could not yet guarantee a healthy life for children.
The draft law recommends fertilising up to three eggs. "If we had to allow for the fertilisation of only two or less eggs, the law would be killing the procedure," Dr Asciak said. Three years ago, Paul Sultana, from Saint James Hospital, said that the private hospital would have to "close shop" if the number of embryos that could be transferred to the womb was restricted to two.
In an opinion column published in last Thursday's The Times, Mater Dei Hospital's Paediatrics Department chairman Simon Attard Montalto said few people were aware of the "potentially grave risks" for the offspring of IVF, adding that this must be taken into consideration and balanced with the wishes of infertile couples.
He said multiple pregnancies carried risks of miscarriage as well as "significant morbidity and mortality" to the infants after birth.
But Dr Asciak said yesterday: "We have to look at the mother's health. If the fertilisation of the ova fails, it means that you have to put the mother through another process of hyperstimulation, which is precarious and dangerous, since we are not allowing freezing because we consider it immoral," he said.
The draft law is based on recommendations made by the parliamentary committee following an eight-month debate. An in-depth report drawn up by Nationalist MP Clyde Puli had proposed a law that gives the embryo moral and legal status by the phase of conception.
The committee, chaired by Mr Puli, had recommended that IVF be offered to married heterosexual couples or those in a stable relationship.