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James Debono
The former EU Commissioner and MEP Emma Bonino, a long-standing civil rights campaigner alongside the untiring Italian MP Marco Pannella, described the Maltese government’s proposal of entrenching two articles of the criminal code prohibiting abortion as “very bizarre”.
Bonino, a symbol of the Italian civil rights movement of the 1970s and one of the leaders of the small but influential radical party, served as a member of the EU Commission between 1994 to 1999. She was European Commissioner responsible for Consumer Policy, Fisheries and the European Community Humanitarian Office.
“I think that entrenching laws against abortion in the constitution is very bizarre. It is simply not the purpose of the constitution to enter into the merits on whether abortion should be penalised or not. Enacting articles from the criminal code in the constitution is very strange to me. The constitution should deal with general principles and values. I simply cannot understand the wording which would be used to entrench abortion in the constitution.”
According to Bonino, abortion is a reality that exists in Malta and anywhere else in the world: “The prohibition of abortion in certain countries is only leading to abortion tourism.”
Asked on her reaction to the argument that life starts with conception, Bonino insisted that this was religious dogma: “I have great respect for religion and the Church’s position on abortion. It is a very respectable position but religious dogmas should not be imposed on society. Even the Church through the ages has changed its position on when human life starts. For me abortion is not a right. It is a choice which should be respected.”
Emma Bonino is currently one of the promoters of the referendum seeking to repeal a restrictive law regulating assisted fertilisation in Italy. “We are actually fighting in Italy for a referendum to delete some of the most restrictive articles of the law on assisted pregnancy,” Bonino said. “Malta should take note of the current debate in Italy,” she said about the current debate on in vitro fertilisation.
In 1997 Bonino’s field of competence was widened to include consumer health protection and food safety. In November 2002, Bonino was appointed Head of the, Italian Government Delegation at the Inter-Governmental Conference of the Community of Democracies in Seoul, South Korea.
Recently Bonino received the “Open Society Prize 2004” and “Prix Femmes d’ Europe 2004” as a recognition of her commitment in favour of human rights.
Asked whether she would consider raising this issue in European institutions, Emma Bonino told MaltaToday that although the European Union is not competent on issues like abortion, the EU parliament can show its concern “but its say in this matter is not binding. We have discussed the situation on abortion in Poland and Portugal. Definitely abortion is an issue of concern for the EU parliament.”
Back in 1975, Emma Bonino founded the Information Centre on Sterilisation and Abortion and was a protagonist in the campaign which led to the legalisation of abortion in 1978. In 1981, 80 per cent of Italian voters voted in a referendum against a proposal to repeal this law.
jdebono@newsworksltd.com
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