PD proposes legal amendment to remove rapists’ parental rights

The Democratic Party (PD) has proposed an amendment to the country’s civil code, which would result in the cessation of parental authority of rapists whose victims conceived children

In a statement published earlier today, the PD said that Article 150 of the Civil Code Chapter 16 of the Laws of Malta, should be changed in order to give more legal safeguards to rape victims, including incest and inter-marital rape, the enhancement of the rights of children conceived in rape.

There are currently six sub-clauses to the article, with the PD proposing the addition of a seventh: “(g) From the moment the child was conceived as a result of rape, the perpetrator would lose parental authority, custody and any contact with the child if termination of the parent-child relationship would be in the best interest of the child.”

The party said the amendments were being sought in order to ascertain that rapists were severely penalized, adding that it did not in any way entail the right of the perpetrator to provide maintenance to the child and of the right of the child to be their eventual heir, expect where the mother, or the child, object to these rights.  

It said it was putting forward its suggestion in light of the fact that children born of rape needed to be protected more than other children, since their life was “distinct” in the way they were conceived.   

“Rape is not only a sexual abuse but also a power abuse, the basis of which is a sexist culture where men are always at the helm,” said the PD.