IVF Bill risks making procedure inaccessible

What is supposed to be a form of treatment for infertile persons risks being made virtually inaccessible to a wide range of people who need this treatment due to infertility because they do not fit into the preconceived and restrictive views of who should be considered as responsible enough to raise children. Those who push forward the idea that a person would chose to undergo such treatment capriciously is wrong and insulting to people who really wish to conceive.

Ralph Cassar, AD Secretary General explained that the party’s position is that “laboratory and medical practices should be regulated to safeguard the health of the patient and avoid complications. Restricting IVF so much that the procedure becomes too difficult or using regulation to pass misplaced and uncalled moral judgement on the infertile person who resorts to the medical profession for help, amounts to an attempt at social engineering. The proposed law is already very restrictive; any further restrictions to please the Prime Minister’s ultra-conservative power base will effectively mean a ban on IVF.”

Prof. Arnold Cassola, AD spokesperson on EU and International Affairs, added that “there are already very serious laws adopted in various EU countries on IVF. The Select Committee in parliament, composed of the three doctors-parliamentarians Jean Pierre Farrugia, Michael Farrugia, and Frans Agius, had unanimously agreed on a draft law based on existing European legislation. Why is government now throwing their work down the drain and making things much more restrictive?”