Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1270964
3 LETTERS & EDITORIAL maltatoday | SUNDAY • 19 JULY 2020 Mikiel Galea Letters & Clarifications Funding anti- abortion NGOs PRO-CHOICE doctors such as myself will never impose our personal views on others (our mission and aims are at www.doctorsforchoice.mt/about). Un- fortunately, Malta's legislative systems impose a particular moral belief on those who may need to access abortions for different reasons. We believe this is not only unjust but puts the wellbeing and possibly even the lives of women at risk. We are particularly concerned that the government is using our taxes to fund LifeNetwork, an organisation that ostensibly provides support to at-risk women, even though it opposes the use of contraception and recommends medically unproven and potentially dangerous procedures such as "reversal of medical abortion". As Doctors for Choice we would suggest that women who find themselves in difficult social circumstances, but wish to carry on with their pregnancy, should approach Sedqa and organizations such as the St Jeanne Antide Foundation. Denying the option of abortion to all women living in Malta, including those who cannot travel is, in our view, appall- ing. Would you rather see women who have had an abortion imprisoned for three years or would you rather support them? Join us in advocating to decrimi- nalise abortion in Malta. Prof. Isabel Stabile FRCOG., Ph.D. Doctors for Choice Disability rights THE Malta Federation of Organisations Persons with Disability (MFOPD) calls for measures that protect people with in- tellectual disabilities during and after the coronavirus emergency. The coronavirus emergency puts the rights of people with disabilities at risk. Several national laws denied people with disabilities healthcare. Most of children with intellectual disabilities are not able to continue their learning because schools cannot communicate with them. Families are left on their own. People in care homes or institutions were being locked down and could not see their families and friends. A lot of people with disabilities have been infected and died from the virus in institutions. Inclusion Europe's petiton calls for post-corona financial measures for people with intellectual disabilities, and health measures that protect them. On 19 May 2020, 7 out of 8 MEPs in the pe- titions committee declared their support to keep the petition open. Marthese Mugliette President Equality Bill AS a former teacher and parent of two children educated at a Church school, I have always conceded that in a Catholic society such as Malta, such schools must be allowed to retain their faith-based ethos in education. It was part of an un- written pact between parents and the operators of these schools, that students who do not object should participate, however passively, in the culture and faith of Catholicism as required within a school's educational remit. But I fail to understand why Church schools are now so inclined to oppose the forthcoming legislation that enforces equality in provision of goods and ser- vices. I am equally disappointed to see the State relent. Why should a teacher of science – a subject that requires its tutor to be of no particular faith, unlike Catholic religious education – be denied a teacher's position if they might not be considered idoneous because of their philosophical or religious views? Christianity, to me, has always ap- peared to prize reason in worship; it weathers the criticism it recieves with reasoned counter-argumentation. Even in a tiny place like Malta, the doors are never entirely closed to lapsed Catho- lics or other sceptics who eventually find in its culture, a welcoming home for meditative prayer and support. I encourage parents to support the Equality Bill. Marisa Attard Mosta