19. Is there an important current debate in your country on these or related issues? Yes.
Yes. The question of surrogacy was delayed due to the controversial nature of abuse of the female body, and legal consequences surrogacy is seen to cause in some cases. However it would seem that the discussion will be raised in the future for both heterosexual and homosexual couples. The Embryo Protection Act as amended does not permit the use of surrogacy and the subject is not even discussed.
Note: Having said that, as article 19, discussed above, indicates, donation of gametes is a private agreement so homosexual couples, for example, may bypass provisions by having sperm donated to them in the case of female homosexual couples, and, male homosexual couples can donated their sperm by a private agreement to a woman, who can be the surrogate (using her own ova by Artificial Insemination by Donor) and then give up the child. Article 19 of the Act seems to prohibit this under my interpretation. In any case, the law does not discuss Surrogacy so at most it can be tolerated but not protected by law when it comes to filiation.
20. Delegations are invited to provide information, in this section, on particular cases encountered in their country, and especially their case-law.
- There are doubts as to whether all medically assisted procreation in Malta use husband's sperm;
- There are concerns that men are being offered sums of money to donate sperm; that is a source of concern ;
- There is evidence that the number of ova being taken from a woman's ovary was higher than the amount which both scientifically and ethically makes sense. This can endanger the health of women (hyper stimulation syndrome).
- There is concern that more than two or three embryos are being transferred into a woman’s uterus.
- There are concerns about the current services being provided to infertile couples. These include: the need for infertile couples to be managed with more sensitivity; and the need for the couple to be given information and counselling about treatment options and associated risks, about possible solutions and their likelihood of success and failure.