Labour party president Ramona Attard opened up about her painful experience with a miscarriage on Friday evening, saying this had driven her to lobby for IVF reform.  

Taking the stage at the PL’s extraordinary general conference, Attard said March 11 was a difficult day for her as it was the day she had been expecting to give birth to a baby girl a few years ago.  

“While I am so glad to be here with you today. I normally prefer to spend this day alone,” she said. 

Instead, she had a miscarriage at 16-weeks as the result of a prenatal blood clot.  

Attard told the party supporters that she was not alone - 20% of births are miscarriages, many of them late-term, she said.  

“I am speaking here because I do not want this subject to remain a taboo, any longer,” she said.    

Attard said she had promised herself she would work as hard as she could to ensure no one is denied the right to have children.  

This, she said, was why the PL was working to widen IVF treatment through legal amendments to the IVF legislation that will be passed through parliament within the first 100 days of a new government. 

The law will be changed to extend the possibility of IVF to those who have already had a child through IVF, so that they can have the opportunity to have another child.

There are currently 24 mothers pregnant through IVF, three of them with twins.

The government already covers the cost of IVF cycles, which cost between €15,000 and €20,000 each, but a new Labour administration promises to extend the service to provide IVF medicines for free, both for the mother as well as the father.

Thanks to Robert Abela, Attard said, she had managed to keep her promise.  

“This is a ray of hope from those who have been through the trauma of miscarriage,” she said.  

“On this alone, Robert Abela deserves a strong vote of confidence. A statesman works towards the interests of all Maltese and Gozitans,” she said.  

Family's heartbreak at son's death

Next on the Labour stage were a married couple Amanda and Manuel Degabrielle who had also experienced heartbreak as they tried to start a family. 

Four years ago their son Andrea was born. His birth, they said, had brought so much joy to their lives. 

“It didn’t take long for me to realise that Andrea wasn’t like other children his age,” Amanda said. 

After medical testing, they received the news they had been dreading. 

Andrea had been diagnosed with GM1 gangliosidosis, an inherited disorder that progressively destroys nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.

Their story brought tears to the eyes of many gathered in the jam-packed Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta. 

Medical staff gave their son the best life possible.  

“The more time passed, the worse Andrea’s condition became,” Manuel said, taking over from his wife for whom the memories are still too raw.  

The last month in the hospital, he said, was too traumatic on them as parents. 

“Unfortunately the battle was won by this cruel disease,” he said as emotion crackled his voice.  

The PL’s IVF proposals, he said, meant that their dream to become parents could become a reality.  

Before leaving the stage Manuel made one final appeal: “Don’t be insensitive in your words, these circumstances have no [political] colours.”