Letters • December 28 2003

Criminality not Morality

Joseph Muscat
Mosta

I beg to differ from what the leader of the 7 December issue of MaltaToday said regarding the court’s decision to block the deportation of that Russian woman.
Before I proceed I have to state clearly whether I’m in favour or against abortion. I am completely against, not because of morality and double standards as was implied by the editorial, but because I see abortion as a murderous and criminal act. The double standards are those adopted by countries where the murder of a person is considered to be a criminal act while the slaughter of thousands of defenceless innocent human beings is condoned. Is there anybody who wishes to see barbaric acts being performed in our country just to say that we were living in the 21-century? Unfortunately there is.
It is not the first time that I heard women saying; it’s my body; nobody has got the right to interfere with what I do. In my opinion they are wrong. In abortion there is not only a big intervention on the woman’s body but the intervention also kills the life of a human being. Does the 21-century give anybody the right to slaughter, kill and dump an innocent defenceless human being? Keeping morality out of the equation, because for some, in this century it is out of fashion, abortion is surely a criminal act.
It is also my view that with this sentence the judge has established that this woman is carrying a child who is not hers alone, and this somebody has got the right to enjoy what is his.
Why should we copy the dirt of other countries? There is a difference between carrying out an abortion abroad although it is illegal and can be prosecuted according to Maltese law and the whole thing being legalised. The article said that Maltese law in this regard could be challenged. Challenged by whom and from where? Is it from the EU? I am one who voted for the EU. If the EU interferes in issues concerning our human rights it is all right, but in so doing we cannot allow ourselves to enter into a slaughterhouse.
Having said this, this incident could have been cooked up. I am not saying that it was, but the court’s decision could possibly be used in the future to broker marriages of convenience. The authorities should keep their eyes open. When we say that morality is old fashioned and I think of the past I ask myself whether we should be ready to accept more of the present criminality.