ADPD endorses abortion decriminalisation: ‘Maltese law not fit for purpose’

Malta’s Green Party has officially approved a resolution to support an abortion decriminalisation Bill presented by independent MP Marlene Farrugia, as well as adopting a new policy for the party.

ADPD’s executive committee’s resolution supports the decriminalisation of abortion, limited to the liability of women which currently risk up to three years’ imprisonment for terminating a pregnancy.

While the resolution says that abortion should not be normalised, it should however be limited to specific and extraordinary circumstances.

The three circumstances identified are: when the life of the pregnant woman is in danger, when a pregnancy is the result of violence (rape and incest) and when faced with a pregnancy which is not viable.

“The Maltese legislation on abortion is not fit for purpose. It needs to be brought up to date after more than 160 years. It requires to be brought in line with medical and scientific progress over the years,” said ADPD chairperson Carmel Cacopardo, who presented the resolution.

The stand also ends a 30-year saga in which Alternattiva Demokratika always issued a pro-life stance, contrary to the Green Party mainstream in the rest of Europe.

“It is the result of an internal party debate ongoing for the past three years,” Cacopardo told MaltaToday. Originally, the party’s former chairperson, Arnold Cassola, resigned from Alternattiva Demokratika after its European Parliament Mina Tolu, called for an open and safe debate on abortion rights for women. Cassola has since run as an independent candidate

“There is an urgent need for more emphasis on reproductive and sexual health education at all levels of our educational structures. We need to reinforce responsible behaviour in particular from males,” Cacopardo said. “The party is available and willing to participate in dialogue with civil society possibly to identify a consensual approach to the required reforms.”

Arnold Cassola yesterday reiterated his stand against abortion. “Abortion involves the mother and the foetus. One either believes the foetus is a human life or else an object. There is no middle way. I can understand those who believe that a foetus is an object and that therefore abortion is no problem for them. But I believe that the foetus is a human life.”

Cassola said the Criminal Code should be amended so that the three-year sentence stipulated for the woman is replaced by “work in the community”, whilst the maximum sentence of four years jail stipulated for the doctor is to be replaced by “withdrawal of the professional warrant.”

The Labour Party has not taken a stance in favour nor against the decriminalisation of abortion, but has said that the discussion on the topic should be built on honesty and respect. Labour said it is calling for an open and mature discussion on abortion, but did not make its position clear on the issue.

“The discussion on a sensitive topic such as abortion is conducted by society in a mature and free manner, and is not stifled by such a motion,” the party said in its statement. “[We need] a discussion that is not monopolized by political parties in Parliament, and is built on honesty and respect for different views, without sensationalism or condemnation and against stigma.”

The Nationalist Party came out in strong opposition against the decriminalisation of abortion, saying “it can never be in favour of decriminalising abortion” and that it would support measures that do not endanger the life of a child before or after birth.

Malta is one of a few countries in the world and the only EU State to completely ban the termination of pregnancy.

Farrugia’s Bill was presented in the House on Wednesday just after question time. Any decision on when or if the Bill will eventually be debated in parliament would have to be made by the House Business Committee.

The Bill she has presented calls for the decriminalisation of abortion and to ensure no person or medical professional is criminalised “for the choice pertaining to their medical health and/or the provision of medical assistance. Such criminalisation is discriminatory.”

The amendment Bill calls for the striking off of Article 241(1) of the Criminal Code, which outlaws the ‘procuring of a miscarriage’, which carries a prison conviction of up to three years for women.

The Bill also demands the striking off of Article 242, which holds anyone assisting the abortion to the punishment for wilful homicide or wilful bodily harm, diminished by one to two degrees; Article 242 which holds any medical professional who administers “the means whereby the miscarriage is procured” liable to imprisonment of four years; Article 243(a), which holds anyone who causes an abortion by “unskilfulness in his art of profession” liable to a fine of up to €2,329.

The Bill asks that articles 242 and 243(a) are substituted with a 10-year imprisonment for whoever carries out a forced, non-consensual abortion for non-medical reasons “by means of violence, force, deceit, bribery, threats or coercion”.