Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1115758
27 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 12 MAY 2019 OPINION is that Malta's Labour Party is entirely unique in this regard). I myself, for instance, would like to know why there doesn't seem to be a single Labour Party candidate who agrees with safe access to abortion, in even restricted circumstances. Or how none of them would openly support those doctors who argue that Malta's total ban endangers the health and safety of Maltese women. Not because I'll be basing my vote exclusively on abortion in this election (I'd be left with pretty slender pickings, if I did); but because I happen to think it's kind of… well… weird, wouldn't you say? Having said all this, the abor- tion card – or the way it's be- ing played, anyhow – remains an insidious strategy for other reasons: some of which have already been very well ex- plained by my colleague Kurt Sansone here. In a nutshell: the European Parliament has no authority to force Malta to change its Criminal Code provisions on abortion. Only Malta's Parliament can do that. Again, you'd think the PN would be aware of that tiny detail… seeing how it used the same argument itself, back in the days when Labour campaigned that… oh, dear… 'a vote for Europe, is a vote for abortion'… My, how times change. But like I said, that point has already been made. To me, what really stands out in the PN's electoral strategy is (big surprise) the astonishing lack of foresight. Let's go back to that slogan again, shall we? 'A vote for Labour is a vote for abortion'. Hmmm. Currently, polls are pointing towards a Labour majority of anywhere up to (roughly) 60% in this MEP election. But admittedly, that was before the abortion card was played. The way I see it: the PN must be banking a very great deal on the success of this strategy, if they genuinely believe that as many as 10% of Labour voters would be persuaded to change their mind by the 'abortion' argument. If so, I'd be curious to know what they base their hopes on, exactly… consider- ing that the same strategy had backfired so utterly in 2004 against Arnold Cassola: who, despite all those 'pro-abortion' smears, almost got elected with 22,000 votes. (See? I told you I'd come back to it). For the umpteenth time, this raises the (apparently unanswerable) question: how many times does an electoral strategy have to fail, before it finally dawns on the people using it that it's just… not… a good strategy? There is, however, a small difference this time round. The stakes are now consider- ably higher. Even conceding that the strategy may indeed work differently today – abor- tion being a more 'palpable' prospect, this time round – and that, yes, some Labour voters might conceivably be persuaded to change their minds over this issue… I somehow doubt the swing will be enough to overturn an (es- timated) electoral advantage of 40,000 votes. (As a side-note: I also fail to see why those 'converted' Labour voters should vote for the PN instead… and not for any of the other equally pro- life options on the same ballot sheet). All other things remaining equal: the overwhelming likeli- hood is that, by the PN's own argument, a clear majority will be voting Labour – and, therefore 'in favour of abor- tion' – on 25 May. In that eventuality, Joseph Muscat – who has already helpfully informed us all that he thinks this election is all about… um… himself – would have been handed, on a silver platter, an electoral mandate to introduce abortion to Mal- ta. By the Nationalist Party, no less. So legitimately – if not quite 'plausibly' – his first act of Parliament after 25 May could very easily be to rescind Article 241 (1) of the Criminal Code, and replace it with a law that decriminalises abortion for women and doctors, and permits the procedure in cer- tain restricted cases (like, all things considered, we should really have done donkeys' years ago anyway). So again: why all the fuss about a pro-life billboard? With the Nationalist Party working so hard to accidental- ly introduce abortion through the backdoor… I see nothing whatsoever for Malta's tiny pro-choice minority to even remotely worry about. The PN must be banking a very great deal on the success of this strateg y, if they genuinely believe that as many as 10% of Labour voters would be persuaded to change their mind by the 'abortion' argument