The Democratic Party would seek to hold a referendum on the legalisation of embryo freezing if the government steamrolled the amendments into law, PD MP Godfrey Farrugia warned MPs on Monday night.
In a rowdy plenary session which ultimately saw Dr Farrugia expelled by the Speaker, the PD MP accused the Prime Minister of foisting a haphazard bill on MPs with the aim of “stoking a partisan fire” and “dividing and ruling”.
Dr Farrugia, a former Labour MP and whip, told parliament that he had quit his position as PL whip in part becaue of the party’s lack of respect for life.
He argued that the Bill conflated universal rights, such as the right to life and other fundamental rights belonging to the unborn, with the civil rights bestowed upon citizens through legislation. There was no need to be in favour of the killing of embryos to be progressive, he said.
In line with the precedent set down in other EU member-states, and in line with the European Charter of Human Rights’s ruling that the embryo was part of the mother, he said, introducing the proposed amendments would eventually result in the introduction of abortion.
Opposition MP Edwin Vassallo also expressed his opposition to the Bill in strong terms, calling it an example of “political dishonesty” which would promote injustice and inequality. Even if there were no absolute certainty that human life began at conception, the House should extend “the benefit of the doubt” to embryos instead of creating orphans and objectifying women.
The Government’s attitude to surrogacy, he said, demonstrated an “absolute indifference” to the needs of children, an indifference which even those who were in favour of embryo freezing had condemned. The Prime Minister had “made a U-turn” on his statement last year that the Labour Party had no mandate to introduce surrogacy.
Mr Vassallo’s intervention prompted Equality Minister Helena Dalli to interject, with the minister heard shouting that “battered women were also objectified” - an indirect reference to Mr Vassallo’s staunch opposition to a domestic violence bill passed into law last week.
Dr Dalli said that the Embryo Protection Act as introduced in 2012 had been intentionally discriminatory, pandering to the country’s “most conservative voices.” The Labour Party had voted in favour of that Act because it was “better than nothing.” She pointed out that former Nationalist Party advisor Rev. Dr Peter Serracino Inglott had in 2005 declared his opposition to legislation banning embryo freezing.
Apart from bringing the law into agreement with anti-discrimination provisions in the Constitution, the amendments currently before the House would also adjust the legal inconsistency that Dr Delia had chosen to cite as his reason for criticising a legal notice which granted leave to LGBT couples seeking to perform IVF abroad, she said.
Stating her objection to the “commercialization of the womb,” Dr Dalli said that a full public consultation would be held concerning the implementation of altruistic surrogacy, and that the latter would be introduced in line with the rights of children and women alike.