PN MP Alex Borg Warns Against ‘Experimenting With Life’ Ahead Of Crucial IVF Vote
As Parliament prepares to vote on a bill that will legalise the genetic testing of embryos for certain hereditary conditions, PN MP Alex Borg has hinted that he might be ready to vote against it.
In a Facebook post yesterday, Borg said that while he is in favour of granting prospective parents all possible means and aid to have a child, this shouldn’t come at the cost of “endangering life, even at its very beginning”.
Warning that people “didn’t enter this world to undermine or experiment on life”, the MP said that “every human life is a miracle from the very start”.
Asked by Lovin Malta whether he intends to vote against the bill, Borg said he “will be voting according to what I feel is right to my conscience”.
“This is a moral subject. Don’t get me wrong, I am no extreme conservative and I am usually always open to discussion but this is a different situation,” he said.
PN Leader Bernard Grech had initially come out against the bill, describing genetic testing as “the selection of life and the selection of embryos”. However, he later adopted a more conciliatory stance, believed to be the result of pressure from his parliamentary group.
Yesterday, Grech said the PN would be voting in favour of the IVF bill as the government accepted an amendment by the Opposition to enshrine polar body testing on unfertilised oocytes as an alternative in the law.
Polar body testing was already allowed in the protocol attached to the bill, but Health Minister Chris Fearne has warned that it isn’t as effective as the genetic testing of full embryos because it only detects genetic conditions coming from the mother, not the father.
Borg becomes the second PN MP to criticise genetic testing in recent hours, with his colleague Adrian Delia warning the practice risks endangering human life.
Although neither MP has clarified that they will vote against the bill, Delia said he will vote according to his conscience.
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