MALTA: ‘Young people see the value in protecting women’s health over enforcing religious doctrine’

Natalie Psaila Stabile | MALTA
29.May.2026

CIVICUS discusses the Women on Waves campaign to expand access to abortion with Dr Natalie Psaila Stabile, a reproductive rights advocate and member of Doctors for Choice Malta, an organisation that campaigns for the decriminalisation of abortion and access to reproductive healthcare.

In April 2026, the international reproductive rights organisation Women on Waves placed safes containing abortion pills at undisclosed locations across Malta, prompting calls from civil society groups opposed to abortion for the authorities to investigate. The intervention coincided with a broader European debate over cross-border access to reproductive healthcare, intensifying scrutiny of Malta’s restrictive legal framework.

Continued: https://lens.civicus.org/interview/malta-young-people-see-the-value-in-protecting-womens-health-over-enforcing-religious-doctrine/

29.05.2026

Interviews/Podcasts

Doctors For Choice Malta

Dr Natalie Psaila

Natalie Psaila Stabile

Pro-choice campaigners in Malta create lockboxes containing abortion pills

Critics hit out at ‘dire’ situation in the country which has the strictest laws around abortion in western Europe

Ashifa Kassam, European community affairs correspondent
Mon 27 Apr 2026

Rights campaigners have affixed lockboxes containing abortion pills to sites across Malta, in a campaign designed to highlight the country’s near-total ban on abortion.

The 15 black boxes aim to provide practical help to women grappling with the EU’s strictest abortion laws; anyone who is less than nine weeks pregnant and in need of an abortion is invited to send an email to obtain the location and codes to access the pills.

In the first eight days of the campaign, 16 women were in touch, hinting at an unmet demand for the procedure in the southern European country, said Rebecca Gomperts of Women on Waves, the Netherlands-based charity behind the campaign.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/27/pro-choice-campaign-malta-lockboxes-containing-abortion-pills

27.04.2026

News

Doctors For Choice Malta

Isabel Stabile

lockboxes with abortion pills

Abortion key safes in Malta

Women on Waves
For immediate release: April 15, 2026

To call attention to the violation of women’s rights in Malta, Women on Waves has placed several abortion key safes across Malta and Gozo. The safes contain abortion pills. Women who are less than 9 weeks pregnant and in need of an abortion can email us to get the location and the code of the safes.

Malta is the only European Union (EU) country to maintain a near-total ban on abortion. Despite the ban, every year approximately 600 women in Malta use abortion pills.[1]

Continued: https://www.womenonwaves.org/en/page/7875/abortion-key-safes-in-malta

15.04.2026

News

Abortion Doula Support Service

Malta – Depenalisation of abortion is the very least we expect

The least our members of parliament can do is change the law and remove the possibility of a custodial sentence being handed down by the courts in abortion cases.

15 March 2026

This leader has repeatedly argued for the legalisation of abortion and its regulation as a healthcare matter. Pregnant women should have the choice to make decisions on their life, their health and wellbeing as they deem fit. And that includes the choice to terminate their pregnancy.

We contend that every woman should have the right to terminate her pregnancy for whatever reason up to the point of the foetus’s viability outside the womb. Furthermore, at any stage of the pregnancy, the woman should have the choice to terminate her pregnancy if her life is on the line. Not everyone will make these choices but for those who want to, the option should be accessible, safe and legal.

Continued: https://www.maltatoday.com.mt/comment/editorial/140344/depenalisation_of_abortion_is_the_very_least_we_expect_

15.03.2026

Opinion

abortion law reform

decriminalization of abortion

Malta – ‘Scapegoated’ doctors demand clarity on whether to report abortions

A police report made by the consultant led to a woman being charged, convicted and given an 18-month jail term suspended for three years

15 March 2026
Claudia Calleja

Doctors are calling for clear, written guidance on their legal obligations when a woman is admitted to hospital with a suspected abortion.

The demand comes after a consultant was reportedly “scapegoated” for acting on what appears to have been incorrect legal advice that he was required to report the patient to the police.

The police report made by the consultant, who has since been named as obstetrician and gynaecologist Max Dingli, led to the woman being charged, convicted and given an 18-month jail term suspended for three years.

Continued: https://timesofmalta.com/article/scapegoated-doctors-demand-clarity-report-abortions.1125494

Abortion Nonprofit Claims Artwork in Malta Biennale Was Censored

By Harrison Jacobs
March 11, 2026

The second edition of the Malta Biennale opened in previews this week, and it was not without controversy. Women on Waves, a nonprofit that provides information on safe abortion in restrictive settings, accused the Biennale’s organizers of “censoring” an artwork by the organization just before the opening on Tuesday.

The work originally featured a banner reading Need Abortion Pills? in English and Maltese. According to a press release from Women on Waves, the banner was altered, at the Biennale’s request, to read Do You Need a Safe Abortion?, with the word Pills crossed out. The nonprofit said organizers then informed them that these changes were “not suitable” and that a new banner would need to be produced. The following day, Women on Waves said they were told the artwork would be removed because it did not meet “minimum aesthetic quality standards to be shown in an international biennale.”

Continued: https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/abortion-nonprofit-claims-artwork-in-malta-biennale-was-censored-1234777129/

11.03.2026

EU unlocks funding for safe abortion travel but it’s a long road for Maltese women

The European Commission says existing EU funds can support access to safe abortion care, including travel abroad, but with abortion illegal in Malta, any benefit for Maltese women will depend on other countries or NGOs stepping in

2 March 2026
by Laura Calleja

The European Commission has said existing EU funding programmes can be used to support access to safe abortion care, especially for women in vulnerable situations.

The clarification followed the commission’s decision not to create a new funding mechanism to expand abortion access across Europe as requested by pro-choice activists. The request was made after 1.2 million citizens from all EU countries backed the My Voice, My Choice initiative.

Continued: https://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/140023/eu_unlocks_funding_for_safe_abortion_travel_but_its_a_long_road_for_maltese_women

02.03.2026

Commentary

Cyrus Engerer

European Commission

European Social Fund Plus

Isabel Stabile

Life Network Foundation

My Voice My Choice campaign

Voice for Choice send open letter to PM demanding abortion decriminalization

Pro-choice NGO Voice for Choice says criminal investigations and legal proceedings still punish women who undergo abortion

24 January 2026
by Juliana Zammit

Voice for Choice has called for the formal decriminalization of abortion in Malta through a letter written to Prime Minister Robert Abela, arguing that the current legal framework punishes women through investigations and prosecutions, even when imprisonment is avoided.

In an open letter, the advocacy group acknowledged the Prime Minister’s recent recognition that imprisoning women for abortion “serves no one and causes real harm,” describing this as “a position civil society has been advancing for years.”

Continued: https://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/139375/voice_for_choice_send_open_letter_to_pm_demanding_abortion_decriminalisation
https://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/139375/voice_for_choice_send_open_letter_to_pm_demanding_abortion_decriminalisation

24.01.2026

News

decriminalization of abortion

Malta Voice for Choice

Malta – Robert Abela: No woman will go to prison for abortion on my watch

Prime Minister Robert Abela says he would use constitutional prerogative to recommend changing jail term imposed on women for abortion to non-custodial sentence

18 January 2026
by Nicole Meilak

No woman will go to prison for abortion under Robert Abela’s watch, the prime minister told MaltaToday in an informal exchange last week.

Abela told the MaltaToday newsroom that he does not believe women should go to prison for having an abortion and will comfortably use his prerogative as prime minister to recommend swapping any prison sentence with a conditional discharge.

Continued: https://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/139225/robert_abela_no_woman_will_go_to_prison_for_abortion_on_my_watch_

18.01.2026

957 Students Say Malta Should Remove The Three-Year Abortion Prison Penalty

By Ana Tortell
December 24, 2025

957 students in Malta said the punishment of up to three years’ imprisonment for a woman who has an abortion should be removed from the law. Out of 1,074 respondents, just 137 disagreed with this prompt.

Similarly, 824 respondents agreed that punishing healthcare professionals for assisting an abortion with up to four years in prison should be removed from the law, while 159 disagreed and the remainder did not express an opinion.

Continued: https://lovinmalta.com/opinion/survey/957-students-say-malta-should-remove-the-three-year-abortion-prison-penalty/

24.12.2025