Voice for Choice outraged over woman’s abortion conviction

Voice for Choice has expressed “absolute outrage” over a woman’s conviction for abortion after she was reported to the police by a gynaecologist at Mater Dei Hospital.

The pro-choice group was reacting to a judgment that saw a woman being handed down an 18-month prison sentence suspended for three years. The woman was found guilty of carrying out a medical abortion on herself. She was reported to the police by doctors after she sought treatment at hospital for medical complications.

“This case highlights the dangerous reality of keeping abortion within Malta’s criminal law,” Voice for Choice said. The group added that the doctors who reported the woman did so despite there being no legal obligation to report patients in relation to abortion.

“Crucially, there is no scientific or medical way to assess if a miscarriage occurred voluntarily or involuntarily. By keeping abortion in the Criminal Code, the state is creating a situation where even women suffering from a miscarriage are now potential suspects in the eyes of the law,” Voice for Choice said.

The group added that the doctor involved in this case sought advice from the Mater Dei legal team, who wrongly advised that there was a duty to report to the police.

“By relying on this incorrect and harmful advice, the hospital has breached the trust of its patients,” the group said. “We call out the Mater Dei legal office, the Malta Medical Council and the Health Ministry for allowing this gross misinformation to permeate through the legal sphere, and we call out the courts who saw fit to sentence a woman so harshly.”

Voice for Choice called on Prime Minister Robert Abela to recognise the trauma of these criminal proceedings. “A suspended sentence may not be an immediate prison term, but it is a hefty punishment that stains a person’s police conduct and hangs like a noose around their neck for three years.”

Voice for Choice insisted that with abortion being criminalised, anyone seeking care for gynaecological complications risks an investigation. “This puts people in an untenable position: seek medical help and risk prosecution, or avoid the hospital and risk their health, and potentially their lives.”

The pro-choice group said decriminalising abortion is the only “ethical, compassionate, and just path forward” to ensure no one else in Malta suffers under what it described as an unjust system.