Doctors' NGO hits out at IVF embryo screening plans, suggests alternative

Government plans to allow prenatal genetic diagnosis of embryos before implantation in IVF procedures have been met with 'deep concern' by Doctors For Life, an NGO grouping pro-life doctors and activists. 

Prenatal genetic diagnosis involves screening embryos for certaingenetic diseases. Embryos found to carry such conditions are in most countries discarded and thrown away, but Health Minister Chris Fearne said last week that in Malta they would be kept frozen and offered for adoption.

Doctors for Life (DfL) said in a statement on Wednesday that at the point of fertilisation, a new human life has begun, whether this happens naturally or in IVF.  A human embryo is a human being at an early stage of its development and as such needs to be treated with due respect and dignity.

"Just because an embryo doesn’t look like a baby does not diminish its humanity or uniqueness and any attempts at dehumanisation are both misleading and superficial."

The NGO said any notions of adoption of the tested embryos was misleading.

Ever since embryo freezing was introduced in Malta, not a single one of the 388 frozen “normal” embryos had been adopted. Therefore the notion that these “genetically...