Rosianne Cutajar Calls For Surrogacy: ‘We Must Consider Women Born Without A Uterus’
Labour MP Rosianne Cutajar has proposed the legalisation of surrogacy, arguing that the rights of women born without a uterus need to be taken into consideration.
“When talking about surrogacy, we must bear in mind that some women were born without a uterus,” Cutajar said in Parliament yesterday.
“You don’t need to be a woman to be aware of these realities and we cannot keep hiding behind ethical and religious considerations.”
“Should we just tell these women that they were unlucky in life, that they cannot have children and that they must accept the situation as it is? We need a serious discussion on this topic that takes into account the rights of the surrogate and the [legal mother].”
Cutajar also reiterated her call for Malta’s IVF laws to be update to include the possibility of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), which will allow parents to screen embryos for serious disorders before choosing which of them will be implanted.
“People who suffer from hereditary conditions like Huntington’s disease essentially have two options – to identify the healthy embryos or to not have any children at all,” she argued. “I don’t know of anyone who would give birth to a child who suffers from the same condition.”
“Let’s not give the impression that people will use PGD maliciously for reasons such as to determine the child’s sex. It can be used for that purpose but I don’t think that’s what our people will prioritise.”
“Are we going to keep hiding behind the ethical considerations or will we do our utmost to use scientific tools to help these people become parents?”
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