Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1545828
YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT SUNDAY 12 JULY 2026 • ISSUE 1393 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY maltatoday €2.20 LAURA CALLEJA lcalleja@mediatoday.com.mt No time to waste Law of the jungle Free inside Gourmet magazine is free with this issue Abigail Cutajar, head of the Climate Action Authority, says Malta has no time to waste to mitigate the impacts of climate change Caravans dot the Bahar ic-Caghaq coastline as illegalities mount INTERVIEW MT2 PAGE 4 CONTINUES PAGES 2-3 Yorgen Fenech trial Harrowing account of Francis Sant, who was the last person to see Daphne alive and witness the explosion happening in front of his eyes (Sketch: Anna Calleja) KEITH SCHEMBRI'S LOST MOBILE PHONE PAGES 6-7 THE TRIAL THROUGH A SKETCH ARTIST'S EYES PAGES 8-9 THE DAY AFTER DAPHNE DIED PAGE 10 Reopen surrogacy debate, IVF expert The Labour Party has promised changes to the IVF law in its first 100 days. We asked an expert what needs to be done to improve treatment options in Malta MALTA should reopen the debate on legalising surrogacy and amend legislation to allow lesbian couples to use the same sperm donor, according to a leading medical expert. IVF consultant Christine Schembri Deguara, medical di- rector at HOPE Fertility Clin- ic, both reforms are needed to close gaps in Malta's reproduc- tive rights framework. She believes surrogacy should be introduced under a tight- ly regulated legal framework for women who cannot car- ry a pregnancy and for male same-sex couples. Addition- ally, existing donor sperm rules should be amend- ed to link donors to families rather than individual parents. This will allow lesbian couples to have biologically-re- lated children. The Labour Party has pro- posed amending IVF legisla- tion in its first 100 days but has stopped short of outlining what the changes will be. Surrogacy had been part of the w i d e - r a n g i n g l e g i s l a t i v e changes pro- posed by the Labour gov- ernment in 2018 but the matter was dropped from the final bill, pledging instead to put forward the proposal separately. Noth- ing ever came of that promise. Reopen the surrogacy debate Schembri Deguara argues Malta already has a "very robust regulatory system" and that in- troducing surrogacy within a controlled framework could protect both intended par- ents and surrogates. "I would really love to get the discussion of sur- rogacy going, both from a medical side and also from an equal rights side," she says, adding ethical concerns could be addressed through proper regulation and safeguards. Christine Schembri Deguara