http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120802/local/No-IVF-discrimination-against-gays-minister.431127
Thursday, August 2, 2012 by Kurt Sansone
The Justice Minister yesterday insisted there was no discrimination involved in the proposed law to regulate in-vitro fertilisation that bars gay couples from using the treatment.
Putting on his lawyer’s hat, Chris Said argued that the law would be discriminatory had it specifically banned gay couples.
The Bill limits IVF to married or “stable” heterosexual couples and it disallows sperm and egg donation.
Speaking at a meeting with the National Council of Women, Dr Said pointed out that gamete donations will not be possible for all couples, including some heterosexual ones.
The Malta Gay Rights Movement, an advocacy group, has claimed blatant discrimination because sperm and egg donation will be criminalised.
The group insisted this had nothing to do with the protection of the embryo and was based on a restrictive model of the family.
The proposed legislation is called the Protection of Embryos Bill. It does not allow embryo freezing except in extreme circumstances and the frozen embryos could in turn be put up for adoption by a regulatory authority that is to be established.
But even in these circumstances gay couples are unlikely to be allowed to adopt frozen embryos.
The minister said it will be up to the authority to decide who can adopt but in doing so it will have to respect the provisions in the law that speak of heterosexual couples.
“The government’s interest is for children born from IVF to be brought up in a family with a mother and a father. We feel this is better for the children,” he said.
A concern raised by the National Council of Women was that the law did not define what “stable relationship” meant.
Dr Said shifted the onus on to the authority to define what a stable relationship was but the law did set parameters for this.
He insisted the Bill was offering couples a bigger opportunity than what was currently available on the market, since it allowed women’s eggs to be frozen, reducing the need for hyperstimulation.
Without giving detail, Dr Said added the Bill will be improved but its main principles, such as the protection of the embryo and the ban on sperm and egg donation, were not negotiable.
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Times: IVF bill 'not discriminatory' - minister
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120801/local/ivf-bill-not-discriminatory-minister.431103
Wednesday, August 1, 2012, 15:24
The proposed bill on IVF did not discriminate against gay couples but prohibited egg and sperm donation for all couples, according to Justice Minister Chris Said.
He was speaking this afternoon during a visit to the National Council of Women.
Asked whether gay couples would be able to adopt a frozen embryo (the law permits embryo freezing in cases of force majeur), the minister said it would be up to the authority to determine who can adopt but it still had to function within the parameters of the law which spoke of heterosexual couples.
“The government’s interest is for children born out of IVF to be brought up in a family with a mother and a father. We feel this is better for the children,” he said.
The Malta Gay Rights Movement Association yesterday said in a statement that limiting IVF treatment to married and heterosexual couples is “blatantly discriminatory” on the basis of sexual orientation and is “inherently homophobic in nature”,
One of the concerns raised by the National Council of Women is that the law speaks of married couples and couples in a stable relationship without defining what a stable relationship is.
The minister said that the authority, which the law was setting up, would define what a stable relationship is but it also set parameters.
He said the bill was offering couples a bigger opportunity than what was currently available on the market.
However, the principles of the law, primarily the protection of the embryo, were not negotiable. The bill would, however, be improved.
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