The year ahead in 2016: The conservative backlash

How Catholic ‘revanchists’ will fight back secularist aspirations: Klaus Vella Bardon, member of pro-life organisation Life Network

Dr Miriam Sciberras, one of the leaders of the Life Network
Dr Miriam Sciberras, one of the leaders of the Life Network

As a movement, we plan to educate more youth on the value of human life and human dignity. Laws that will have a significant impact on human life are being enacted without there first being a fair debate on their consequences. The immediate challenge for next year is the government’s proposal to introduce embryo freezing, which we will stand firmly against. 

We want the public to be more aware of the value of human dignity. Nobody has an absolute right to have a child – babies shouldn’t be handed out like chocolate. The norm that babies are the fruit of the love between couples is under threat. 

After speaking to Maltese youth, we found out that they know very little about the actual procedures being spoken about – how embryos are frozen and how abortion is carried out. 

Malta loves copying the West, and a prevalent attitude exists here that everything that happens in the United States must de facto be a good idea. However, we must have a good hard think on what values we would like to adopt. The Free Love movement left a lot of pain in its wake, with indiscriminate sex leading to a rise in STDs. Moreover, the West has become too indulgent, and it is now afflicted with obesity and alcoholism. 

Are those healthy aspects of a culture? Should we now open the gates for embryo freezing and eventually abortion because they are being spoken about as the next steps for a progressive society? Do they really represent progressive values? After all, societies should be measured by how well they treat their most vulnerable members and embryos are ultimately human life too. We shouldn’t encourage such a callous and negative attitude towards life in the name of ‘progress’.  

Look at divorce – I realise that it was introduced to help people who are trapped in betrayed marriages, but couples are now making parachute agreements on divorce before they even get married. Is that healthy? This has got nothing to do with religion – it’s a question of human feeling.  

I want to be clear, our aim at Life Network is not to impose our values on others but to educate people.

The fight against embryo freezing will be challenging of course. First of all, the local media doesn’t favour us, and has an obvious liberalisation agenda while not often questioning what exactly they want to liberalise. Many popular TV debates are often biased against us too, with presenters who like to portray themselves as liberal setting up unbalanced panels and trying to trip us up with their questions. Fair debates necessarily require fair referees. 

There is also big money lobbying for reform behind the scenes – IVF is the most lucrative medical service around, and it is in private clinics’ business interests to expand it. Indeed, IVF providers are against NaProTechnology, which they view as a competitor. 

Then of course there’s the powerful gay lobby to reckon with. Not satisfied with being able to adopt children, they now want to be able to create their own children as well. 

I believe that civil unions was a healthy development, but this is not about LGBT+ rights. Children aren’t objects, and a person’s rights end where another person’s rights begin. 

When discussing this proposal, we must constantly put ourselves in the position of the child.

As told to Tim Diacono