Thousands in Spain ask Health Minister to address crisis of frozen embryos

Madrid, Spain, Nov 3, 2003 / 22:00 pm

More than 3,000 scientists and experts have joined the 350,000 Spanish citizens calling on the Minister of Health, Ana Pastor, to address once and for all the problem of a growing accumulation of frozen embryos.

A group called, “There Are Alternatives,” which is registering the protests, denounces Pastor for initially claiming to resolve the problem by modifying a law on in vitro fertilization, but “the protocol can be changed only at the pleasure of the Ministry of Health, without any oversight, and as such the protection granted to embryos is minimal.” 

Rafael Rubio, a spokesman for the group “There Are Alternatives,” announced it will send the Minister of Health a report explaining why the proposed changes by the Minister of Health will not alter the rate of accumulation of frozen embryos, which currently total 30,000.

Rubio explained that the “current exceptions for prohibiting the freezing of embryos do not provide any guarantee for the protection of embryos and repeat the mistake of condemning them to freezing without any future options.”  The decision is left in the hands of “doctors and clinics with obvious economic interests” without any control by the people.  “The issue is left to the discretion of a handful of professionals who so far have shown little care in preventing the freezing of embryos,” he said.

Various government officials share the concerns of Rubio, who says the new reforms do not state what will be done with embryos that are left frozen for years and are not implanted into their biological mothers or an adoptive mother.