In two decades, two people charged with attempt to cause abortion

Since 2000 there were only two cases in which people were charged in court with causing an abortion, figures released in Parliament show

Only two cases of people accused of causing an abortion to pregnant women made it to court since 2000
Only two cases of people accused of causing an abortion to pregnant women made it to court since 2000

A woman and a man, charged in two separate court cases with causing an abortion, were the only two such crimes recorded since 2000, Parliament was told.

The first case happened in 2014 when a 35-year-old foreign woman was charged in court with causing an abortion on another woman.

She was handed down an 18-month jail term suspended for three years.

The second case happened in 2017 when a 26-year-old foreign man was charged in court with a similar crime. The case is ongoing but a second foreign man is still being sought by the police and has an international arrest warrant to his name.

The information was given in Parliament by Home Affairs Minister Michael Farrugia. He was answering a question put to him by Nationalist MP Karol Aquilina.

The cases were the only two to have been recorded between 2000 and February 2019.

Abortion is prohibited in all circumstances in Malta and anybody who performs an abortion or assists someone to carry out an abortion can end up in jail.