I have been following the debate on the amendments to the IVF law with great interest and am proud of the many men and women who have contributed to the debate – their devotion to the unborn and their sympathy for infertile couples too. It is not an easy subject to discuss as there are many emotions involved. However, the most important emotion is that of wanting to protect the innocent and voiceless unborn child.
I have worked for many years in this field, mainly because I have a love for children and feel they need protection and love from the earliest stages in the womb. We just cannot treat babies as commodities to suit the adults. It is just not fair.
As an example of IVF, I quote a couple I know who went to England for IVF treatment. They now have a beautiful 18-month-old child and four frozen embryos in England. The wife does not want more children so what is going to happen to those four frozen embryos – tell me?
Will they get “adopted” by a British couple? Get thrown away or be left to die? No, that is not ethical. Malta must not go down that route. Surely as a nation we care a lot about our children as demonstrated in the Manifestation for Life on April 22 in Valletta. Along with many others, I was there, aged 80, carrying the white balloons that symbolised the unborn embryos.
The crowd was enthusiastic about our speakers and Joanna Rose told us to not go down that route of frozen embryos and gamete donation but to be the people we are now – loving and protecting children from the embryonic stage.
The organiser of the event and chairman of Life Network Malta, Miriam Sciberras, was passionate in what she said about the present “amendments” to the Embryo Protection Act and spoke of the complications that will arise were they to be implemented.
She is tireless in her defence of the unborn and I have never seen such devotion and commitment as hers to this cause.
Malta deserves better and I ask the public to come out and protest against this ghastly and inhuman situation we now find ourselves in. The President does not agree with the rushed approach to this issue.
The Commissioner for Children should be ashamed of herself for agreeing to a Bill that harms children at the embryonic stage. She, if anyone, should be standing up for the unborn. Maybe, she feels that she has to submit to her lord and master who gave her the job. Poor Malta! What are we coming to?
It was once a wonderful country. We are defacing its character in more ways than one. Come on Malta. Sweden does not allow surrogacy and they are a very liberal and ‘progressive’ nation so there must be something really worrisome about such a development.
Why do we not improve the lives of women in crisis pregnancy with the amount of surplus money that this government boasts about? That will increase the nation’s population in a healthy way.
‘Creating babies’ will lead to untold psychological messes. I explained this to Health Minister Chris Fearne on Facebook when I asked him how he would feel if he were conceived in such a manner – egg from A, sperm from B, womb from C to be delivered to couple D.
It’s all wrong and a stop must be put to this insane idea. I hope that the debate will be calm and reasonable and not madly rammed through come what may.
Malta does not deserve this. We are a peaceful loving people who are proud of our children and want the best for them, even if this demands making many sacrifices at times.
So, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, if you really love Malta, listen to the voice of the Maltese who cry out for compassion for the unborn.
Mary Hilda Camilleri is a retired music teacher who worked in pro-life organisations in London and now with Life Network Foundation.