Maltese parliament on Monday gave the green light in a second vote on a law that will allow life-saving procedures to be carried out on a pregnant mother, even if it risks the fetus’s life, loosening the country’s draconian abortion laws.
The small EU-member state was previously home to some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world, criminalising it in all circumstances, even if the mother’s life was at risk. The law also imposed criminal charges on any doctor or mother who underwent a medical procedure resulting in the fetus’s death.
In the summer, a pregnant American woman started miscarrying while on holiday in the country, but doctors refused to abort the fetus, thus putting her life at risk. After initially refusing to hand over her medical files, doctors relented, and she was evacuated to Spain, where she could be treated.
With several thousand Maltese women seeking abortions abroad or using pills illegally every year, combined with pressure following the high-profile case, the government sought to change the law.
The law was passed in parliament with 42 votes in favour and 34 against. It will now be subject to further tweaks at the committee level, with a final parliamentary vote held next year.
“Opposing the legislation or further restricting it puts women’s lives and health at higher risk. The legislation will allow doctors to intervene when dangerous complications threaten the lives or health of pregnant women,” said a group of academics backing the law.
“When given consent by the patient, doctors can intervene without the chilling effect of a possible four-year prison term and loss of their medical license. If there is any redrafting of the text, it should grant the same level of protection to the woman’s life, and health and any text which does not include these points would be unacceptable,” they added.
The opposition Nationalist Party, however, said it would do its most to ensure broad consultation at the committee stage in the hope that the final vote would be against it.
Speaking to journalists after the vote, Prime Minister Robert Abela said the amendment would not introduce abortion but would protect a woman’s life or health when it is in danger.
“The main principle remains that if the foetus can be born and will live, it should be born,” he said.
“I must be clear that this is not an amendment that will introduce abortion in our country, as our position on abortion will remain the same as it was before. We are speaking about the mother’s protection in these extreme circumstances.”
After the last vote, the law will still have another hurdle to pass, as President George Vella must sign it off before it can become law. Vella said he is prepared to resign if the parliament approves the law as proposed by the government.
Last month, a group of academics argued that the proposal, as it is currently worded, could be used to justify terminations due to mental health-related conditions. Some 450 doctors backed the proposals.
Source: euractiv.com
