Nationalist MP and employment spokesperson Therese Comodini has come out strongly against PN leader Adrian Delia’s motion against a law granting 100 hours of vacation leave to lesbian couples and infertile women seeking gamete donation treatment abroad. 

“This is a legal notice about leave, not about whether one can or cannot undertake medically-assisted procreation abroad,” the former MEP told the Times of Malta. “How can I, as spokeswoman for employment, be against a measure that safeguards the health of the employee?

“I am sure Dr Delia acknowledges the sharp differences in opinion on this issue, even though it deals with employment conditions, and that he will keep his word and allow a free vote.”

The motion was the first filed by Delia since his election as PN leader

Malta’s IVF law, introduced in 2012, does not currently cater for lesbian couples and infertile women, meaning they have to travel abroad if they want to give birth to their own children through egg or sperm donation treatment. 

However, the legal notice – which has been in place since May – has given them some relief by including them amongst the people undergoing IVF treatment who are eligible for 100 hours of vacation leave.

Comodini Cachia is the first PN MP to criticise Delia’s motion, but her intervention is crucial as she is the party’s employment spokesperson and the legal notice in question is an amendment to Malta’s employment and industrial relations law. 

She admitted she is in only a small minority of PN MPs opposing Delia’s motion, his first since he was co-opted to Parliament last week, but insisted the vacation leave was a small concession granted as a measure of social justice. 

“I am sure Maltese children have been conceived through scientific techniques that are illegal in Malta,” she said. “No law can stop couples who truly want to have children from doing so, even if it means going to other countries. I believe their sincere desire and their suffering is why they seek medical assistance abroad and not because of 100 hours of leave.”

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has pledged to update Malta’s IVF law, and the government has recently been giving off strong signs such updates will also include the legalisation of gamete donation. 

Do you agree with the legalisation of gamete donation? Let us know in the comments’ section

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Tim Diacono

Tim is interested in the rapid evolution of human society and is passionate about justice, human rights and cutting-edge political debates. You can follow him on Instagram or Twitter/X at @timdiacono or reach out to him at [email protected]