Malta LGTBIQ Rights Movement labels opposition motion ‘unnecessary and discriminatory’

The Malta LGTBIQ Rights Movement (MGRM) yesterday labelled the Opposition’s motion against a legal notice granting 100 hours of leave to any couple in a stable relationship accessing IVF treatment as being based on “a false premise and discriminatory in its intent”.

The MGRM welcomed the measures set out in the legal notice and the fact that “the definition of prospective parent takes cognisance of the various forms of legal recognition that have been introduced over the past years to include marriage equality, civil unions and cohabitation”.

It also urged the government “to take the necessary steps to amend the Embryo Protection Act to bring it in line with the constitutional provisions which ban discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity”.

The MGRM said: “These revisions include the decriminalisation of gametes donation which prevents some couples from accessing IVF treatment and the possibility of oocyte and sperm cryopreservation (egg and sperm freezing), which is important in a wide range of circumstances including trans and intersex persons undergoing gender affirmation surgeries, cancer patients and those who for some reason choose to have children later in life.”