Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1322776
3 LETTERS & EDITORIAL maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 DECEMBER 2020 Mikiel Galea Letters & Clarifications Women in Malta are suffering A common argument for restricting women's reproductive choices is that women should take full responsibility and make sure they don't get pregnant if they don't want to. It's as-sumed that contraception is solely the woman's responsibility within the relationship. Should things fail, she is then obliged to continue with the pregnancy. This places a huge burden on that woman's shoulders. She has no choice but to make sure she has con- stant access to reliable contraception. It comes at personal, as well as finan- cial cost. How many men are willing to share this expense? Also consider doctors' visits and the time involved. One only hopes she doesn't get any side effects after all's said and done. Compare to how the only form of contraception the male partner is fully responsible for is the condom. However, the woman might get the usual complaints of how it doesn't feel good, or maybe "I don't have one". And so, things come full circle – it's down to the woman to protect herself. Yet, when mistakes happen as they occasionally do, the woman does not have the option to rectify the situ- ation by seeking an abortion in her own country. One must remember that pill dosing errors happen such as when combined with antibiotics, condoms slip and coils fail. She must put her whole life on hold and get ready for child rearing, with or with- out the support of her partner. The woman is then told that should she not wish to parent this child, she could simply put it up for adoption. No matter the effect this could have on the child or that there are already over 500 children await- ing adoption in Malta. I wonder: do anti-choicers care about the oc-ca- sionally life-long consequences faced by such unwanted children? The current system is designed to fail women in Malta. In 2020, our national sexual educa-tion curricu- lum focuses primarily on abstinence when discussing contraception. It does not address dangerous myths such as condoms decreasing men's sexual pleasure. Contracep-tives are still not on the essential medicines list. And to make matters worse, the emergen-cy contraceptive pill (morn- ing-after pill) is still not available from the Mater Dei Hospital phar- macy during out-of-hours. We at Doctors for Choice Malta are determined to reverse this sor- ry state of affairs and stand up for the rights of women in Malta. The FPAS helpline (27782758) set up by our or-ganisation, together with the Women's Rights Foundation and Women for Women, seeks to redress the situation by offering clients free and non-judgmental reproductive advice. It's now becoming increasingly obvious to us that women in Malta are suffering. Yes, eve-ryone has a right to freedom of conscience. What they do not have is the right to im- pose that view on others. We call on the government to take urgent action and give women in Malta full control over their own reproductive lives. Natalie Psaila MD, MMCFD, MRCGP (Int) Co-founder Doctors for Choice Malta