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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 15 NOVEMBER 2015 News 3 JURGEN BALZAN THE Catholic Church has clearly pronounced itself against em- bryo freezing by insisting that it was "scientifically unnecessary and unreasonable". The Church had not yet made its position clear following the Prime Minister's declaration in September about his intention to re-introduce embryo freezing, but in a position paper published on Saturday, the Church said "the prevailing scientific data and the results obtained from local IVF treatment to date demonstrate that the introduction of embryo freezing in Malta is scientifically unnecessary and unreasonable". Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had declared that he will forge ahead with plans to re-introduce embryo freezing, which was banned in 2013 under the Em- bryo Protection Act made law by the Nationalist government. "I am resolute to introduce embryo freezing," Muscat told MaltaToday in a clear message to legislators on both sides of the political divide who are expected to vote on the amendments in the coming weeks. However, two government backbenchers, Marlene Farrugia and Deborah Schembri, have de- fiantly stated that they would be voting against embryo-freezing. On the other hand, despite former PN leader and prime min- ister Lawrence Gonzi's alarmist, albeit principled stance against embryo-freezing, PN leader Si- mon Busuttil has so far failed to take a stand on an issue which once again risks splitting party liberals and conservatives. In its position paper, the Church argued against any changes to the current law which it said "safeguards the legitimate interests of the prospective child and it champions appropriate standards of ethics in fertility treat- ment". It pointed out that the current legis- lation, which was passed just three years ago, was e n a c t e d unanimously by all MPs after an exhaustive consultative process that involved all stakeholders on a truly national level. "Most importantly, this Act was all about protecting the hu- man embryo – a value that is still clearly held in high esteem in Malta – and should be af- firmed rather than destroyed," the Church said. The Church drew up these con- clusions after consulting a group of experts in the field of clinical medicine, law, psychology, social policy, family studies, disability studies, philosophy and theol- ogy. The paper also concluded that, on the basis of legal, medical and ethical arguments, the Embryo Protection Act should be main- tained as is, for it strongly up- holds the dignity and integrity of the human embryo. "Moreover, the involvement of third parties via gamete donation and surrogacy will create seri- ous dilemmas of parentage while raising serious ethical, legal and psychosocial issues," it said. Archbishop Charles Scicluna (pictured below) and Gozo Bish- op Mario Grech welcomed the conclusions of the group, which was coordinated by the Univer- sity of Malta's Faculty of Theol- ogy. The live-birth rate of Malta's current system of assisted repro- duction – oocyte vitrification – stands at just 8% of the 51 IVF cycles completed on the national health service between January 2014 and January 2015. In the 30 months since its in- troduction, there have been 411 IVF and intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) cycles up to June 2015: 116 resulted in viable preg- nancies. Despite the clinical pregnancy rate standing at 30%, live birth rates have not been satisfactory and government's inter-ministe- rial committee is looking into the introduction of embryo 'vitrifi- cation', which in contrast to the technology of slow freezing, is said to be a more efficient method for the cryopreserva- tion of embryos. The low rate of births from the system of freezing the ova, as opposed to embryo freez- ing, is one of the factors why government is determined to widen access to assisted re- p r o d u c t i v e technology. H o w - ever, the C h u r c h s a i d that "al- t h o u g h the num- bers are small and the service still in its infancy, initial results have shown a good success rate, especially when taking into ac- count the fact that those couples prioritised for early treatment comprised a particularly high risk group". But, the Church's paper said that embryo freezing is unneces- sary because it will not improve the local success rates, which compare well with those abroad. "On the contrary, since embryo freezing is indisputably linked to the production of surplus em- bryos, this process will create a myriad of ethical, moral and psy- chological dilemmas relating to the disposal of surplus embryos and embryo wastage," it said. Furthermore, the paper says there's no evidence that the changes to the Embryo Protec- tion Act are required by EU legis- lation or following recent judge- ments by the European Court of Human Rights. The position paper also ex- presses concern that the intro- duction of pre-implantation genetic testing is unlikely to be restricted to fatal or non-viable conditions. "Rather, it is very likely that this will be extended to cover other conditions, where genetic test- ing is easily available, resulting in embryo selection, rejection and wastage." The paper recommends that adoption and fostering need to be encouraged as an alternative and promoted and facilitated by appropriate legislation. Moreover, "humane and pasto- ral support needs to be offered to those persons who for some rea- son may be unable to have chil- dren of their own". The University's Faculty of The- ology has in the past prepared in-depth studies for the Church on organ transplantation, the bill on gender identity, gender expression and sex characteris- tics, and the decriminalisation of the vilification of religion and of pornography. Dean of the Faculty of Theol- ogy Professor Emmanuel Agius chaired the group of experts which included the Dean of the Faculty of Law Kevin Aquilina, Grace Attard and retired judge Giovanni Bonello. Love * Terms and conditions apply getting my VAT back in vouchers * g Embryo freezing 'unnecessary and unreasonable' Church says