Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1545828
2 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 12 JULY 2026 NEWS GHADIRA BAY CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 Schembri Deguara says sur- rogacy should not be viewed only through the lens of LG- BTQ+ rights, pointing out some women face serious med- ical barriers to carrying a preg- nancy. "Some women are born without uteruses, some women are born with small uteruses, some women have had chemo- therapy or radiotherapy to their uterus," she points out. Schembri Deguara argues that medical surrogacy can provide an alternative for pa- tients who have no possibility of carrying a child. She insists that banning surrogacy does not prevent people from seek- ing it aboard, potentially ex- posing vulnerable patients to less regulated systems. "If something is not legislated, it doesn't mean people don't go abroad to countries with less regulation, and go through the turmoil of insecurity," she says. "If you offer something, you of- fer it to patients to also secure the rights of the patient and the surrogate, because if it's done properly, that's the way things are done." Changes to sperm donation regulations Schembri Deguara also calls for changes to Malta's sperm donor regulation to better re- flect the country's recogni- tion of same-sex families. She argues that current rules are based on an outdated defini- tion of parenthood. While praising Malta's pro- gress on LGBTQ+ rights, Schembri Deguara says current IVF legislation still contains provisions that were written around the traditional mod- el of a family made up a man and a woman. "Compared to most of Europe, we've done advancements in recognising single-sex marriages," she says, but adds some aspects of fertil- ity law have not caught up with these changes. She explains that under the current system, a sperm donor is linked to an individual rath- er than a family, which creates difficulties for female same-sex couples who wish to have chil- dren using the same donor. "If two women are regard- ed as a family, then the sperm donor can actually be used by both women," Schembri Deguara says. Changing the wording of the law could allow female couples to access the same donor while maintaining safeguards around donor limits and family links. This, she says, would also allow the possibili- ty of half-siblings through the same donor within a recog- nised family structure. Embryo testing Schembri Deguara welcomes the 2022 changes to introduce preimplantation genetic test- ing for monogenic disorders (PGT-M). She says the proce- IVF expert calls for sperm donor law changes