The IVF law reform was “essentially about equality”, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said on Sunday.
“There will be many who will start banging on their chest on TV, to complain about morality. But that mother who can’t have children, she won’t go on TV, she will suffer at home in silence. Let the hypocrites talk about morality while they leave the weakest in our society suffer in silence. We will speak for those who have no voice, as we have always done,” Dr Muscat said.
Speaking at Labour Party supporters in the City Theatre in Valletta, Dr Muscat dedicated the bulk of his speech to the controversial new IVF reform.
READ: IVF Bill a complete travesty, warns former PL minister
Health Minister Chris Fearne unveiled the new Bill on IVF on Wednesday, with new clauses on embryo freezing and adoption, access to IVF for same-sex couples and single persons, as well as a public consultation on surrogacy among the main highlights.
The proposed amendments will allow embryo freezing as long as prospective parents agree to give up unclaimed embryos for adoption.
The proposals have been slammed by a medical professor who had been involved in the drafting of the existing IVF legislation, branding it “irresponsible”.
Dr Muscat, however, insisted the reform was a question of rights and equality.
Equality is not a la carte, there can be no ifs or buts, you either believe in it or you don’t
“Equality is not a la carte, there can be no ifs or buts, you either believe in it or you don’t,” he said.
Dr Muscat insisted that as far as he was concerned, the government was merely proposing to reform a law that was flawed.
“We are saying that as a government, if you want to have a family we are not going to get in your way. On the contrary, we are going to help you,” he said.
Dr Muscat dusted off memories of the Labour Party’s long struggle with the church. The Curia had declared reading or selling Socialist newspapers or attending Labour meetings mortal sins, as was the act of voting for the party in the 1962 general election.
“We have not shied away from following our moral convictions in the past – even with the axe of eternal damnation hanging over our heads. This movement has always been a pro0gressive one,” Dr Muscat said, prompting rapturous applause from the packed theatre.
Terming the vote on the Bill, a test on equality, Dr Muscat said he was convinced he was on the right side from the look on the face of a new mother who had been able to have a child thanks for IVF.
“And I feel that I have let down some. There are modern procedures that out country isn’t in a potion to introduce and I genuinely feel bad for those parents,” he said.
Dr Muscat also spoke about legislative changes on the protection of victims of violence.
“Even here they accused us of trying to introduce abortion. The next thing you know they will be accusing us of trying to introduce abortion through transport reform,” he jested.
The Prime Minister also patted himself on the back for the proposed removal of criminal libel facing journalists, saying that this was something done by a government that faced more media scrutiny than ever before.
And earlier in his speech he praised Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne for reaching an agreement with the Medical Association on the privatisation of a number of State hospitals.