PN wants to retain reference to unborn child in domestic violence law

Existing domestic violence legislation lists the unborn child in its definitions of family unit, something the Opposition wants to retain in the new law being debated in Parliament.

Opposition Whip Robert Cutajar said the Nationalist Party parliamentary group will propose an amendment at committee stage so that the reference to the unborn child is retained.

Cutajar was speaking on TVM discussion programme Realta on Monday night with government Whip Byron Camilleri.

Cutajar said the PN was against abortion, which was why it was proposing the amendment.

The existing Domestic Violence Act includes a reference to the unborn child in the list of definitions for “household members”. The new law, which will replace existing legislation in its entirety, makes no reference to the unborn child when defining “family or domestic unit”.

Cutajar challenged Camilleri to say whether the government would support the amendment.

However, Camilleri was non-committal, insisting the Labour parliamentary group would make its decision when it formally received the Opposition’s amendment.

PL Whip Byron Camilleri

Camilleri insisted Prime Minister Joseph Muscat reiterated the government had no mandate to introduce abortion, hitting out at what he described as the Opposition’s scaremongering.

“This is the same tactic the PN used during the divorce debate and the marriage equality vote when they tried to instil fear by using the abortion argument and irrational arguments such as we will not be able to celebrate mothers' day,” Camilleri said, insisting he was against abortion.

Last week, PN MP Edwin Vassallo broke ranks with his own party, and with PN leader Adrian Delia’s blessing, voted against the Gender-based Violence and Domestic Violence Bill in the Second Reading. He was the only MP to vote against.

The law will transpose the Istanbul Convention on domestic violence, which prohibits forced abortion among other things.

Vassallo argued that if the government did not amend this part of the Convention by specifying that it was against any form of abortion, it would be opening a window to abortion in Malta.

Equality Minister Helena Dalli rebutted the argument and insisted Malta’s strict anti-abortion laws would remain intact.