
The rights of a Maltese couple were violated after their request to go through a second IVF cycle was rejected because of the woman’s age.
The European Court of Human Rights (EHCR) ruled on Thursday that Malta violated the couple’s right to private family life. They were in turn awarded €8,000 in damages and €2,500 in costs.
Natasha, who was 43 at the time, and Gilbert Lia were married in 2012 and were given medical advice to attempt IVF after several unsuccessful attempts at having children.
In September 2014, the couple underwent a procedure known as Intracyctoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI), with the treatment provided for free by the government as it did all subjects satisfying the Maltese Embryo Protection Authority’s protocol.
The treatment proved unsuccessful, but although the applicants requested another cycle, the authority refused the request. The age bracket endorsed by Malta at the time of the second request was between 25 and 42.
The couple took it to court, but in October of 2019, Malta’s Constitutional Court ruled against them as they found that the maximum age was ‘medically justified.’ The couple took their case to the Strasbourg based ECHR.
The ECHR raised concerns about the Maltese system and ruled that the interference suffered by the applicants had not been in accordance with a law of sufficient quality. It thus concluded that there was a violation of Article 8 of the Convention.
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