Malta – Joanna Delia: ‘Nobody can take your kidney, but the state controls the uterus’

Abortion is already happening in Malta despite being illegal, says Joanna Delia of Doctors for Choice. She tells Juliana Zammit what the law does is force women to hide and doctors to wait as politicians play the game of populism with women’s lives

27 September 2026
by Juliana Zammit
Video – 30 minutes (in Maltese but YouTube link has English closed captions. Transcript below is an excerpt)

Abortion is banned in Malta, yet Joanna Delia says, the debate around it is still framed as the woman against the foetus—a contest over who carries more value. But for Delia, a doctor with Doctors for Choice, this is not an abstract argument; it is a daily encounter with women in crisis.

One in four women in the world has an abortion once in her life, Delia says. In Malta, she says, the number of women ordering abortion pills online rose 11% last year alone. Doctors for Choice figures show 667 women received pills in 2025, up from 590 in 2024.

Continued; https://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/interview/144631/watch__joanna_delia_nobody_can_take_your_kidney_but_the_state_controls_the_uterus_

27.09.2026

Interviews/Podcasts

Videos/Images

Doctors For Choice Malta

Joanna Delia

Malta Medical Council

World Health Organisation

Innovative Action Draws Attention to Malta Abortion Ban

June 12, 2026
Mira Michels

In March 2026, Women on Waves, a reproductive health nonprofit, placed 15 lockboxes — what we called abortion key safes — at carefully selected sites across Malta and its sister island Gozo. Each contained mifepristone and misoprostol, the medications the World Health Organization endorses as safe and effective for abortion care. The pills were prescribed by a licensed physician. They were provided for free. Women less than nine weeks pregnant could reach out to us to receive a location and access code. I was the person on the other end of each of those calls and emails.

Malta, a Mediterranean archipelago home to just over half a million people, is the only country in the European Union with a near-total ban on abortion. Poland, which has received far more international attention for its restrictions, allows abortion in cases of rape, incest, and severe fetal abnormality. Malta does not.

Continued: https://womensmediacenter.com/news-features/innovative-action-draws-attention-to-malta-abortion-ban

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

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