A report on assisted procreation to be tabled in Parliament on Tuesday is expected to recommend permitting the freezing of embryos under strict protocols, The Sunday Times has learnt.
The report by the parliamentary select committee on assisted procreation will also argue in favour of a law that allows the adoption of frozen embryos by third parties. However, it will propose putting sperm and egg donation on the backburner.
The committee, made up of three doctors – chairman Nationalist MP Jean Pierre Farrugia, Nationalist MP Frans Agius and opposition spokesman Michael Farrugia – was set up last February to draw up a report on three specific issues left pending by the Puli Report in 2005.
Its brief was to concentrate on the eligibility of couples for treatment, the freezing of embryos, as well as sperm and egg donation. All three issues were left open in the wide-ranging report authored by then chairman of the social affairs committee Clyde Puli, five years ago.
According to legal advice obtained by the select committee from the Attorney General, current laws do not provide for the adoption of embryos, which means legislation must be amended before this can take place.
Sperm and egg donation will not be recommended in a bid to encourage sterile couples to adopt frozen embryos instead.
However, the committee is not expected to rule out the donation of gametes completely, recommending the situation be reviewed again after some years.
Only this month, a 42-year-old woman in the US gave birth to a healthy baby after being implanted with an embryo that was frozen for nearly 20 years.
The report is also expected to recommend that in-vitro fertilisation be available for women in a stable relationship, irrespective of whether they are married or not.
The report tackles the sensitive issues from a medical and legal perspective, as was the committee’s brief, avoiding the moral and ethical arguments involved. Malta currently has no specific laws governing assisted procreation even though the private sector has been providing the service for years.
Mater Dei Hospital has laboratories that are fully equipped to provide IVF treatment, including equipment to freeze sperm.
However, it is not being used because the costly treatment for infertile couples is not yet available on the National Health Service and will not be offered unless legislation is in place.
ksansone@timesofmalta.com