Malta – From Metsola to Bill 28: how politicians got talking on abortion

It was once a taboo subject in the political arena but 2022 saw abortion making it to the parliamentary agenda as Malta was cast in the international spotlight over its draconian anti-abortion law. Maya Dimitrijevic outlines the trajectory of the abortion debate

26 December 2022
by Maya Dimitrijevic

The tone for the abortion debate in 2022 was set early when Nationalist MEP Roberta Metsola signed the Simone Veil Pact just after becoming tEuropean parliament president.

The pact calls on signatories to preserve, promote and strengthen women’s rights at European, national and local level. It explicitly calls for guaranteed access to contraception and abortion.

Continued: https://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/120443/looking_back_at_2022__from_metsola_to_bill_28_how_politicians_got_talking_on_abortion#.Y6nWPHbMK3A

Malta: The only EU country where abortion is illegal leaves women scared

By Jessica Parker and Sira Thierij, BBC News, Malta
Aug 11, 2022

Alone, in her family bathroom, a woman secretly searches for information about abortion on her phone. This was Maria - not her real name - after finding out she was pregnant.

"I was scared," she says. "I didn't know what the police [would] do. I thought maybe they would be searching for people googling the word abortion. And then you obviously get paranoid and your thoughts get carried away."

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62479624

US woman left traumatised after Malta hospital refuses life-saving abortion

‘Desperate’ tourist who fell foul of country’s total ban fears for her life if complications set in while she waits for transfer to UK

Megan Clement and Weronika Strzyżyńska
Wed 22 Jun 2022

Doctors have denied an American woman on holiday in Malta a potentially life-saving abortion, despite saying her baby had a “zero chance” of survival after she was admitted to hospital with severe bleeding in her 16th week of pregnancy.

Despite an “extreme risk” of haemorrhage and infection, doctors at the Mater Dei hospital in Msida told Andrea Prudente that they would not perform a termination because of the country’s total ban on abortion.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/jun/22/us-woman-left-traumatised-after-malta-hospital-refuses-life-saving-abortion

Malta activists protest, seek to decriminalize abortion

Abortion rights activists have filed a legal protest in Malta’s courts demanding the legalization of abortion

By Kevin Schembri Orland , Associated Press
June 15, 2022

VALLETTA, Malta -- Abortion rights activists filed a legal protest in Malta’s courts on Wednesday demanding the legalization of abortion in the only European Union member where the procedure is criminalized.

Toting banners reading “I decide,” “Abortion is a woman’s right” and “Abortion is health care, not a crime,” the activists protested on the steps of Valletta’s legal courts after filing the complaint.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/malta-activists-protest-seek-decriminalize-abortion-85416949

15.06.2022

European Court of Human Rights

Lara Dimitrijevic

Women's Rights Foundation

Amnesty International Calls Out Malta’s ‘Dangerous’ And ‘Draconian’ Abortion Ban

By Belle de Jong
October 4, 2021

Europe has been at the forefront of the global trend towards the liberalisation of abortion laws for more than 60 years – but Malta is lagging centuries behind.

Human rights NGO Amnesty International published an article on abortion laws across Europe, and, as the only EU member state with a total ban on abortion, Malta is extensively featured in it.

Continued: https://lovinmalta.com/lifestyle/health/reproductive-health/amnesty-international-calls-out-maltas-dangerous-and-draconian-abortion-ban/

04.10.2021

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Amnesty International

Isabel Stabile

Lara Dimitrijevic

Malta abortion travel

Voice for Choice Coalition

Women's Rights Foundation

Change is inevitable: people demand the human right to access safe abortion across Europe

Amnesty International
September 28, 2021

Europe has been at the forefront of the global trend towards the liberalization of abortion laws for more than 60 years. But there is still work to do to give all women and people who can become pregnant access to safe and legal abortion.

Almost all EU member states have now legalized abortion on request or on broad socio-economic grounds and, in the last few years, several European countries have enacted important progressive reforms or taken steps to remove harmful procedural and regulatory barriers that can impede access to abortion.

Continued: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/09/change-is-inevitable-people-demand-the-human-right-to-access-safe-abortion-across-europe/

Lawmaker urges Malta to stop criminalising women who seek abortions

By Emma Batha, Thomson Reuters Foundation
MAY 12, 2021

LONDON, May 12 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A Maltese lawmaker made history on Wednesday by calling for the decriminalisation of abortion in the Mediterranean island, which has one of the world’s strictest bans.

In the first such move to amend the country’s tough abortion laws, independent MP Marlene Farrugia presented a bill which would remove criminal sanctions for women who seek terminations.

Continued: https://www.reuters.com/article/malta-law-abortion/lawmaker-urges-malta-to-stop-criminalising-women-who-seek-abortions-idUSL8N2MZ4QE

12.05.2021

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Lara Dimitrijevic

Marlene Farrugia

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Women's Rights Foundation

‘Like Ireland on steroids’: Malta’s abortion taboo leaves women in despair

'Like Ireland on steroids': Malta's abortion taboo leaves women in despair
Border closures have trapped women seeking safe terminations and exposed the plight of those who cannot afford to travel

Megan Clement and Bertrand Borg in Valetta
Thu 11 Jun 2020

The nurse who told Marija she was still pregnant thought she was giving her patient good news. She chided Marija, who was seven weeks along, for not starting her vitamins sooner and sent her home.

But Marija (not her real name) was devastated. Six days earlier, she had tried to terminate the pregnancy with abortion pills she ordered online. But she had experienced terrible morning sickness throughout her pregnancy, and had thrown up after taking the first of the two pills. She was worried the medication had not had time to work before she vomited. After taking the second pill and bleeding for a few days, she went to the hospital to find out if she had miscarried.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/11/like-ireland-on-steroids-maltas-abortion-taboo-leaves-women-in-despair

COVID-19 exposed how women continue to be ‘disproportionately affected in society’

COVID-19 exposed how women continue to be 'disproportionately affected in society'

Giulia Magri
Sunday, 31 May 2020

The Coronavirus pandemic has highlighted, both locally and on a global scale, how women continue to be disproportionately affected; whether with regard to violence, losing their jobs, or not gaining full accessibility to the contraceptive pill, women’s rights activist and lawyer Lara Dimitrijevic told The Malta Independent on Sunday.

“In the ideal post-COVID-19 reality, authorities need to stop throwing the word equality around. Policymakers need to truly see how women are being affected and ensure that the required change takes place. We need to be practical and listen to one another if we genuinely want to reach equality. Women are suffering and I believe that sexual reproductive rights are an integral part of women’s rights and we need to acknowledge that.”

Continued: https://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2020-05-31/local-news/COVID-19-exposed-how-women-continue-to-be-disproportionately-affected-in-society-6736223695

31.05.2020

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The last taboo: Malta is the last EU country to have a full ban on abortion

The last taboo: Malta is the last EU country to have a full ban on abortion
Pro-choice activists will struggle to overturn it

Jul 27th 2019

POPE PIUS XI, who died in 1939, described Malta as “Malta Cattolicissima”. Today, that is not quite as true as it once was. The first schism with Catholic doctrine came in 2011, when divorce was legalised after a bitterly fought referendum. For the past four years, Malta has retained its top spot in ILGA-Europe’s Rainbow Index, a ranking of policy towards LGBT people in 49 European countries. Same-sex couples now have equal marriage and adoption rights.

Yet Malta remains the only European Union member state which bans abortion in all circumstances. Under a law dating to 1724, women who procure an abortion in Malta risk being imprisoned for up to three years. The second-most-stringent EU country, Poland, allows abortion in very limited circumstances (as does Northern Ireland, which is even stricter, though a law passed in Westminster earlier this month could change that).

Continued: https://www.economist.com/europe/2019/07/27/malta-is-the-last-eu-country-to-have-a-full-ban-on-abortion