Unborn children should be better protected by introducing better antenatal health and social services and stronger family units rather than through changes to the law, the Commissioner for Children has said.

“Heavy-handed approaches which risk making the pregnant woman feel like or actually reduce her to the status of a quasi-surrogate mother are not conducive to the child’s best interest,” the Office of the Commissioner for Children argued.

The statement comes one day after PN MP Claudio Grech argued in parliament that a child protection bill which legislators are discussing should be amended to ensure that “foetus” [tarbija fil-guf] was included in the definition of “minor”.

This, Dr Grech argued, would send a “strong signal” that the unborn deserved equal protection as human beings.

Dr Grech’s line of thought did not chime with the Office of the Commissioner for Children, however, which believed the Minor Protection (Alternative Care) Bill was not ideal to protect the unborn.

“In the context of a child developing in its mother’s womb, there can be no alternative form of care to that provided by the pregnant mother,” the Office argued, emphasising the “natural symbiosis” which bound the unborn child to its pregnant mother.

Introducing “more accessible, tailored, better-quality antenatal health and social services that empower and support pregnant parents to carry their pregnancy to term” would be more effective, the Commissioner went on to add.

That, coupled with strengthened familial and organizational structures around pregnant women, were the best protection an unborn child could have, the Office argued, as it urged MPs to approve the Bill being debated “without delay”.