Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1294561
3 LETTERS & EDITORIAL maltatoday | SUNDAY • 4 OCTOBER 2020 Mikiel Galea Letters & Clarifications The right to choose IN another section of the press, Mr Klaus Vella Bardon and his colleagues insist that new life starts at conception. There is no doubt that this mass of cells could eventually develop into a full human being. However, at least for the first 24 weeks or so of the pregnan- cy, the fetus is completely dependent on the body of the woman. When pregnancy is not planned for some reason or another, such as failed contraception; or where it was in fact planned but there is now shown to be a serious congenital anomaly incom- patible with life (e.g., an encephaly); or if there is a serious maternal infec- tion that may cause death of both the woman and her fetus, we are being implored to ask whether the interests of this new being 'in process' are being protected, and whether terminating this pregnancy would be equivalent to murder. I believe that obliging women to go through pregnancy is no different from binding one to act as a human machine attached to someone else to sustain them. Imagine for example a world without dialysis machines, where the only way a person with kidney failure could filter their blood would be if they were attached to another person until the dialysis is complete. And imagine that this process must continue 24/7 for 40 weeks. There is no other context where such a demand can be made of any human being. Therefore, it would seem to me entire- ly unfair to say that if such a person were to decide to not continue to sus- tain a being that is totally dependent on its body, that that person should be criminalised. Viewing the human body in this way undermines the status of women as full human beings with full human rights, dignity and the right to choose their own path in life. It is never easy to decide whether to terminate one's pregnancy. However, given that the fetus is entirely depend- ent on the woman's body to transform it into a full human being, the woman should be given the right to make such a difficult decision herself, in a safe environment that can offer protection, support and care – whatever she de- cides. Women are perfectly capable of doing this. This is why Doctors for Choice, in collaboration with the Women's Rights Foundation and Women for Women, have recently launched the Family Planning Advisory Service (fpasmalta. info, 27782758). We will provide in- formation such that women can make informed choices about their repro- ductive health care options. This is the right thing to do, not only today, on Safe Abortion Day, but every day. Prof. Isabel Stabile, FRCOG., Ph.D. Toothless rage I found Minister Jose Herrera's um- brage about David Attenborough's (ad- mittedly illegal) collection of a megalo- don tooth in Malta from the 1960s and its subsequent gifting to a young royal, amusing. At first I found it to be a justified action, seeing as no country's natural heritage should be pilfered for the benefit of others without consent; as a republican, I view the indulgence of gifting royals with exotic items as an old-world gesture that just feeds it into the Royal Family's undeserved charm campaign. Knowledge is everything: why did no advisor alert Herrera to his faux-pas on the fact that fossilised megalodon shark teeth are in abundance and retail cheaply on the Internet, such that At- tenborough's gesture could have been an occasion at portraying the soft pow- er of Malta as a land of rich heritage, both natural and historical? Yes, I have just shot myself in the foot: a republican who thinks royals can be good for business in Malta? Well, if there is an anti-colonial argu- ment at making the Brits pay for their long sojourn here, maybe it should be done by more creative ways rather than misplaced displays of jingoism. E.R. Williams Battersea, London