Pro-choice groups urge MPs to support ‘bare minimum’ abortion law changes

The inclusion of two exceptions to Malta’s anti-abortion regime is “the least that can be done to better protect women’s health and lives”, several pro-choice groups said.

The organisations urged MPs “who have the wellbeing of Malta’s women and girls close to their heart” to support the change.

The statement signatories included those of Aditus, Moviment Graffitti, Doctors for Choice, the Women’s Rights Foundation and the Malta Gay Rights Movement.

“Opposing the proposed law altogether or further diluting what is already a bare minimum is to put women’s lives, health and general wellbeing at higher risk,” the groups said on Monday.

They also reminded MPs that the European Institute for Gender Equality regards any death of a woman secondary to denial of reproductive healthcare as state-sponsored femicide.

“The proposed amendment should be introduced without any further delay, but a broader discussion on sexual and reproductive rights in Malta needs to follow,” they argued.

Malta’s parliament is expected to start discussing on Monday, a legal amendment put forward by the government to allow the termination of a pregnancy if the woman’s health or life are at risk.

The Nationalist Party said it will be voting against the proposed change and has tried to rally public opposition to what it describes as the introduction of abortion in Malta.

The pro-choice groups said every pregnancy carries a certain degree of risk to the woman’s health and life, with some incurring a more serious risk than others.

“It is every woman’s prerogative to choose how much risk she is willing to take to carry a pregnancy to term. This must be supported by consultation with doctors of her choice who provide impartial and factual information,” they said.

They highlighted two recent cases – one earlier this year and one that happened in 2017 – in which they said women were deprived of “essential obstetric healthcare” and had to be airlifted out of Malta for a medical procedure to terminate their pregnancies.

“From a technical aspect, this could have easily been provided locally but doctors were unable to do so because of the law,” they noted.

The case that happened this year was that of Andrea Prudente, an American tourist who started miscarrying while on holiday in Malta. Despite being told by doctors her pregnancy was no longer viable, she was denied an abortion because the foetus still had a beating heart. Eventually she was flown to Spain where the pregnancy was terminated.

The pro-choice organisations said many women have shared their pregnancy stories, explaining how they were maimed, temporarily or permanently injured, made infertile, rendered disabled and left living a life of chronic pain, and being psychologically scarred for life. “These cases are often hidden as they are not traced in any official figures or records,” they said.

The statement was signed by: Aditus, Academics for Choice, Doctors for Choice (Malta), Integra Foundation, Moviment Graffitti, Young Progressive Beings, Women’s Rights Foundation, Men Against Violence, Malta Humanist Association, Students for Choice, Parents for Choice, MGRM, Women for Women Foundation and Mediating Women.