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

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

abortion law reform

Doctors For Choice Malta

Malta – Doctors need guidance on reporting abortion cases, lawyers say

Abortion is illegal in Malta, but current situation is open to legal interpretation

Claudia Calleja
May 17, 2025

Lawyers are calling for clear guidelines to help doctors determine whether they should report abortions, warning that the lack of policy is leading to subjective interpretation.

Abortion is illegal in Malta except when performed by doctors to save a woman’s life. But there is no explicit legal requirement for doctors to report abortion cases to the police, resulting in some doctors doing it and others not.

Continued: https://timesofmalta.com/article/doctors-need-guidance-reporting-abortion-cases-lawyers-say.1109636

17.05.2025

News

Daniel Bianchi

Doctors For Choice Malta

Emma Portelli Bonnici

Lawyers for Choice

Malta Medical Council

Mater Dei hospital

Professional Secrecy Act

Most abortion police reports come from doctors at Mater Dei Hospital – data

Abortion is illegal in Malta, except when performed by doctors to save a woman’s life

April 2, 2025
Claudia Calleja

Four of the seven abortions reported to the police in the last decade were flagged by doctors at Mater Dei Hospital, according to police data.

Since 2014, the police received seven reports of abortions. Four reports were made by doctors, two by partners and one by a family member.

While the circumstances that led to the doctors’ reports are not clear, concerns have long been raised that fear of legal repercussions deters women from seeking medical help after undergoing an abortion.

Continued: https://timesofmalta.com/article/most-abortion-police-reports-come-doctors-mater-dei-hospital-data.1107549

02.04.2025

News

Catholic hospital

Doctors For Choice Malta

hospitals calling police over abortion

Malta – Forty, pregnant, and seeking an abortion

A trend is emerging in Malta among women aged 40 and over, who already have children and who experience unintended pregnancies despite using contraception. The Journal catches up with Doctors for Choice - Malta’s Dr Natalie Psaila.

The Journal
Jan 16, 2024

If you think that unwanted pregnancies are exclusive to teenagers, think again.
“An emerging trend that we’re observing is among individuals aged 40 and over, who already have children, who say that they have used contraception, but still experience unintended pregnancies,” reveals Dr Natalie Psaila, a Maltese doctor who make it to the BBC’s top 100 inspirational women in 2023.

These women confirm using CE certified condoms but, despite these precautions, they still get pregnant, she pointed out. “These condoms shouldn’t fail easily but no contraceptive is fail-proof. This is why these couples are getting pregnant. Condoms have about 10% failure rate. Something like the pull-out method – a favourite with the Maltese – has a 40% failure rate.”

Continued: https://thejournal.mt/forty-pregnant-and-seeking-an-abortion/

Malta – Woman fined €58 for assaulting Doctors for Choice activist

Jennifer Grech said that pro-choice messages ‘hurt her feelings’

January 2, 2024
Edwina Brincat

A woman, found guilty of assaulting a pro-choice doctor during a peaceful roadside protest, later saying that the message on the activist’s placard “hurt” her feelings, was fined €58.

Judgment was delivered on the incident which took place on May 9, 2022, when Isabelle Stabile, a gynaecologist and member of Doctors for Choice, was assaulted by Jennifer Grech during a protest on Aldo Moro Street, Marsa.

Continued: https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/woman-fined-58-assaulting-doctors-choice-activist.1076001

02.01.2024

News

anti-choice violence

Astrid May Grima

Doctors For Choice Malta

Malta – We aid and abet abortion

People call the free Abortion Doula Service because they know they will receive abortion advice according to best practice

Christopher Barbara, Natalie Psaila and Isabel Stabile
Nov 20, 2023

We refer to ‘Inciting murder of the unborn” (October 6) in which senior colleagues call for the police to investigate us for providing information and support to those persons in Malta who seek an abortion. This is preposterous.

We have absolutely no qualms letting people know exactly how to order pills online, how to take them and what complications are possible as well as the precautions they need to take to avoid them. We do this because we are medical professionals and are obliged to provide every support possible to any person that needs our help.

Continued: https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/we-aid-abet-abortion.1067760

Maltese society divided over arrest of woman who had abortion

By Alice Taylor and Spiros Sideris | EURACTIV.com and EURACTIV.gr
Jun 6, 2023

The arrest of a Maltese woman for having a medical abortion at home has divided Maltese society, with pro-choice groups calling for urgent changes to the law and staging protests, and the prime minister declaring it makes him feel ‘uncomfortable’.

Malta has a total ban on abortions, even in the case of rape, incest, or if the woman’s life is in danger. The unnamed woman reportedly took abortion pills, likely imported from abroad as they are illegal in the country, and had a medical abortion. She was subsequently arrested and given a conditional discharge.

Continued: https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/maltese-society-divided-over-arrest-of-woman-who-had-abortion/

06.06.2023

News

arresting women for abortion

decriminalisation of abortion

Doctors For Choice Malta

Doctors for Life Malta

Maltese Socialist Party

Robert Abela

self-managed abortion

total abortion ban

Women’s Rights Foundation

Woman in Malta charged in court for having abortion

Pro-choice groups condemn rare enforcement of country’s total ban on terminations

Agence France-Presse in Rome
Thu 1 Jun 2023

A woman in Malta has been charged in court for having an abortion, in a rare enforcement of the country’s total ban on terminations.

The Women’s Rights Foundation of Malta said: “What should have never happened [has] happened today: a Maltese woman was brought to court facing charges of having a medical abortion at home.”

Its legal team had helped the unnamed woman throughout the proceedings, it said, “and she was let go with a conditional discharge”, without giving further details.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/01/woman-malta-charged-in-court-for-having-abortion-pro-choice-condemn-rare-enforcement-total-ban-termination

01.06.2023

News

Doctors For Choice Malta

Dr Natalie Psaila

prosecuting women for abortion

Robert Abela

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/