Woman who assaulted pro-choice activist had verbally abused campaigners in separate incident

Pro-choice doctor Isabel Stabile has been physically assaulted by a female individual, Doctors for Choice said on Facebook. 

Stabile told MaltaToday that she already had a previous altercation with the same person in Paola, during a similar protest, but it never went past verbal abuse.

Stabile said that the woman got out of her car and started hurling verbal abuse at her before it turned physical. “She then pushed me,” the doctor said.

Stabile said that she and other activists would not be deterred from protesting because of what happened, and they would continue to fight for the right for people to access safe abortion.

Stabile is one of the activists who have taken to Malta’s roads in recent weeks with pro-choice signs as part of a campaign by the NGO. 

The NGO said that a police report had been filed. “We have asked for the perpetrator to be prosecuted. Thankfully, Dr Stabile did not sustain any injuries,” the NGO said.

“We take such incidents extremely seriously to protect our activists. From now on, we shall be providing our activists with body cams so they can better record such incidents in the future.”

The NGO said it has a zero tolerance to for violent behaviour and will report all such incidents to the police and request criminal prosecution.