Joseph Muscat said his stand in favour of embryo freezing was motivated by the enlarged possibility this would give to prospective parents who have difficulty conceiving.
The Prime Minister went so far as to say that he wanted his legacy to include giving these people a fair chance.
“I want to have done everything possible to help these people irrespective of how many they are. Will it lose me votes? I don’t know and I don’t care.”
Dr Muscat came out in favour of embryo freezing a couple of weeks ago as an inter-ministerial committee prepares a draft for changes to the Embryo Protection Act that regulates in vitro fertilisation.
Embryo freezing is currently illegal unless necessitated by exceptional circumstances.
“This is about what you really believe in and when I speak on embryo freezing I want to give the person unable to have children the biggest possibility,” Dr Muscat said.
He was dismissal about Opposition leader Simon Busuttil’s comment that the removal of religious vilification from the statute books was pushing things “too far”.
The government intends to remove vilification as a crime, a move intended to encourage artistic freedom.
Will it lose me votes? I don’t know and I don’t care
Dr Muscat insisted all religions would still be protected at law since it would not be possible to incite hatred or violence. But removing the law on vilification was a move towards greater freedom of expression, he added.
“When the Opposition leader speaks the way he did it betrays his mantra that he is different from his predecessor. It just shows these issues are secondary to him and he probably also believes the introduction of civil unions was pushing things too far,” the Prime Minister said.
He said the Budget to be presented on October 12 would contain no surprises but hinted it would address “the tired infrastructure” reminiscent of the 1970s that was not coping with demand.
He said the sewage system in some areas was under pressure and there was shabbiness in other localities as a result of a growing tourist population.
Dr Muscat was speaking in a pre-recorded interview on One TV. He is in New York to attend the UN general assembly.
kurt.sansone@timesofmalta.com