Pro-life petition on embryo freezing resurrects constitutional protection of ‘unborn’

An online petition by the pro-life lobby opposing the introduction of embryo freezing, has resurrected a call to include the protection of “unborn life” in the Constitution.

This is the third time that pro-life lobbyists make a public call to put pressure on MPs to include the “protection of life from conception” in the Constitution. Malta is the only EU member state with a blanket ban on abortion.

In 2005, then home affairs minister Tonio Borg took up a call to arms from Gift Of Life’s Paul Vincenti, and proposed to have the crime of abortion entrenched in the Constitution. A nationwide petition failed to gain the support of then Opposition leader Alfred Sant, who thwarted efforts to get the debate started in parliament.

In 2010, Gift of Life wrote to the Prime Minister and the Opposition leader asking them to start a parliamentary debate to change the Constitution to ensure that life is protected from conception, just 24 hours after Ireland’s abortion laws were slammed by the European Court of Human Rights when it found that a sick woman’s human rights were breached when she was forced to seek an abortion in the UK.

Now a collection of pro-life groups fronted by Life Network has launched a petition calling on MPs to refrain from amending the Embryo Protection Act, by introducing embryo freezing – claiming it will entail the destruction of human life.

The amendments have the support of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

The lobby includes Miriam Sciberras from Professionals Against Embryo Freezing, Paul Vincenti of Gift Of Life, dentist Klaus Vella Bardon, the Malta Unborn Child Movement, and the National Council of Women.

But the petition also proposes an amendment to the Constitution which it says would “position Malta at the forefront of the battle to protect the world’s most unique and precious resource – life.”

Any constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds majority in the House, which has 38 government MPs, 29 Opposition MPs, and two independent MPs who each hail from either party. A united opposition would need 15 Labour MPs to carry the vote.

The proposed amendment seeks to extend fundamental rights and freedoms to any person in Malta by including the words “born and unborn” in Section 32 of Chapter IV (Fundamental Rights and Freedoms of the Individual); and to add a new sub-paragraph that specifically introduces the “Protection of Right to Life”.

The proposed clause would state that “No person shall intentionally be deprived of his life save in execution of the sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offence under the law of Malta of which he has been convicted”; and also that “Recognition of the human embryo shall start from the moment of conception, and shall be protected throughout gestation and until birth.”

The survey also claims that “recent surveys” stated that the Maltese are “80% pro-life” – a reference to a poll carried for Gift Of Life by Informa Consultants in 2005.