Abortion: Uncomfortably numb

Robert Abela is arguably the first Maltese Prime Minister to openly speak about the realities of abortion from the woman’s perspective, and to push for a change in legislation. 

Meek though government’s attempt may be, to decriminalise abortion in two very limited circumstances – if a woman’s life is in danger, or her health is in grave jeopardy – it has to be recognised for what it is; a bold attempt to change Malta’s draconian anti-abortion law. 

For this, Abela and his government must be commended. Abortion is and has always been a political minefield; one which neither Dom Mintoff nor Joseph Muscat dared to touch, despite their domineering status within the Labour Party. 

Abela and his Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne have had to push against the conservative forces in this country – which seem to have found common purpose, in opposing the legal changes – and the more traditionalist elements within their own party. There have also been times, recently, when abortion was simply a tar word to smear political opponents with; a situation that forced pro-choice politicians into abject silence. 

Thankfully, times have changed. Young female politicians, primarily from the Labour fold, are increasingly voicing their pro-choice views without yesteryear’s fear of being ostracised – unless they militate within the Nationalist Party. 

More and more people from different walks of life are coming forward to assert their pro-choice views – having a well-attended public pro-choice demonstration that also includes doctors would have been unthinkable until five years ago.  

However, this leader understands that the vast majority in the country still views abortion as a criminal act that should be discouraged and even punished. This complex tapestry is not easy to navigate for any politician, which is why Abela’s leadership in this debate is important. 

The Labour Party does not have an electoral mandate to introduce abortion. What the government is doing is proposing a sensible legislative intervention to address a situation that came to the fore last year, with the case of Andrea Prudente.  

The Prudente case was not the first of its kind, and certainly won’t be the last. Countless other Maltese women have had to endure the trauma of an unviable pregnancy, and put through the unnecessary risk of developing potentially life-threatening complications, because they were never given the choice to safeguard their health and abort. 

But since then, there has been another defining case in this country’s abortion debate. 

Only a fortnight ago, a woman in the most vulnerable of states was charged with performing a medical abortion and handed down a conditional discharge. 

It was only the court’s compassionate understanding of the underlying circumstances that spared her a jail sentence. But the judgment also came with an admonishment that the woman should have sought help instead of choosing to terminate her pregnancy. 

Already a mother to a young child and living in an abusive relationship, this woman, who also suffers from mental health problems, chose to terminate a pregnancy she felt would have brought more complications to her life and that of her young child. Indeed, she was reported to the police by her partner and having no choice, the police went on to prosecute. 

This case, which is rare but not unique, has challenged the argument that, despite Malta’s tough law, no woman has ever been charged over abortion. We now know it is a lie. 

Faced with this situation, the Prime Minister expressed his own discomfort with the fact that a woman had to be criminally charged in court. 

But this newspaper today carries an open letter to the Prime Minister by gynaecologist Isabel Stabile, who writes on behalf of Doctors for Choice, in which she exhorts Abela to be more than ‘uncomfortable’ in front of this injustice; and to take the “bold step” of decriminalising abortion. 

Stabile is right. Like their European counterparts, women in Malta should have the right to choose whether to have an abortion without the fear of being reported, charged and possibly sent to jail. 

Already, hundreds of women every year either travel abroad – something financially inaccessible to the vulnerable – or buy pills online to self-medicate at home, with no comfort that they could seek non-judgemental medical aftercare in the case of complications. They do so in fear of being discovered. 

This leader endorses the position taken by Doctors for Choice and other pro-choice organisations calling for abortion to become legal. There is no place for abortion in the Criminal Code. Instead, it should be legislated for within the Health Act, with the necessary caveats to prevent a free-for-all. 

While fully recognising the government’s attempt to bring some sanity to Malta’s strict anti-abortion law, this leader urges the Prime Minister to move beyond discomfort. Politicians cannot be ‘uncomfortably numb’ to the pain, fear and stigmatisation Maltese women must endure because abortion remains a criminal act. 

Abela should ensure that the proposed legal changes to the Criminal Code are enacted without delay, and not diluted to the extent of creating impractical barriers to access. But he must then take steps to propose a holistic change in Malta’s abortion law, and outline how this can be achieved within the confines of a democratic process.