Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1376560
10 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 23 MAY 2021 OPINION Raphael Vassallo When in Europe, do as the Europeans do… I was wondering how long it would take former Health Min- ister (and European Health Commissioner) Dr Tonio Borg to finally weigh in on the ongo- ing abortion debate, triggered by Marlene Farrugia's private member's bill last week. As it happens, we didn't have to wait too long. Last Friday, The Times carried a hard-hitting opinion piece, entitled 'A des- picable abortion bill', in which the former European Commis- sioner lashed out at both Mar- lene and Godfrey Farrugia over their "surprising, not to say hyp- ocritical," U-turn. And I shall have to confess that… well, he does have a small point there (though it remains just slightly debatable whether Tonio Borg himself is ideally po- sitioned to actually make it: for reasons I'll turn to in a sec). Consider, for instance, the fol- lowing excerpt: "So long as they [Marlene and Godfrey] were contesting general elections, both proposers were adamant supporters of the right to life. After all, a huge majority of the electorate still opposes abortion. They used to partici¬pate in the annual March for Life organ- ised by Life Network. One of the proposers objected to the law on embryo freezing since this would lead to abortion, and had even suggested an abrogative referendum to repeal this law. "When they finally resigned even from the Democratic Par- ty, which they had founded, and having declared that they would not contest the next gen- eral elections, they were now no longer accountable to public opinion. They have, therefore, come out with this idea to intro- duce a limitless abortion bill…" Well, what can I say? It's not often that I find myself in full agreement with a man who – in case anyone's forgotten - has an entire history of weaponizing the abortion issue, at every op- portunity, for purely party-polit- ical reasons. So let's just pause to savour the moment. Yes, Tonio Borg is actually spot-on in that assess- ment. It's a point I made my- self, last Sunday: there is some- thing deeply (and suspiciously) cynical, about how two openly anti-choice politicians would simply contradict all their past positions on the same issue… at a time when there was no longer any political price to pay, for a volte-face of such staggering proportions. But then again… when it comes to abortion, 'cynicism' and 'hy- pocrisy' are hardly the sole pre- rogative of the Farrugias, are they? And to hear that argument coming from Dr Tonio Borg, of all people… Ooh, I don't know. Perhaps the former European Commis- sioner needs a little reminding, of the time when he himself had likewise disavowed all his for- mer 'pro-life' positions, at a time when (let's face it) it was polit- ically convenient for him to do so. So let's take a brief, retrospec- tive glance at Dr Borg's career as a militant anti-abortion crusad- er, shall we? Starting with that extraordinary moment when he faced a grilling at the hands of MEPs, in the process that led to his appointment as European Commissioner for Health in No- vember, 2012. Like many others, I followed that session of the European Parliament with rising disbelief and stupefaction. There, before our very eyes, was the sight of Malta's great champion of the unborn, publicly declaring that he would be "a European, not a Maltese Commissioner"… and reassuring MEPs, at every turn, that he would 'not allow his own personal views to influence his actions as European Commis- sioner'. In other words: the clean op- posite of everything he had ev- er said or done, with regard to that abortion issue, throughout his previous career as a Maltese government minister… in which position, he had actively sought to impose his personal views on the entire country, by trying to entrench them into the Con- stitution, no less (where they would have been binding also on future – i.e., 'unborn' – genera- tions). More astonishingly still, in the build-up to that grilling he even submitted written reassurances, in a letter dated 17 November 2012, that he would (inter alia) "actively support EU policies with regard to women's rights". Those policies, at the time, al- so included a commitment to ensure that the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals – featuring a clear commitment to maximise "access to sexual- ity education, family planning services and SAFE ABORTION [my emphasis]..." – would be fully implemented by 2015. I need hardly add that the same Tonio Borg (in his earlier incarnation, as an indefatiga- ble 'protector of the unborn') had relentlessly criticised oth- er parties, such as Alternattiva Demokratika, for publicly sub- scribing to precisely the same UN Millennium Development Goals… whilst also never miss- ing an opportunity to bash La- bour's MEPs, each and every time they supported any EP resolution which made any ref- erence whatsoever to 'women's reproductive rights'. Yet there the same Dr Tonio Borg was: blithely offering MEPs his wholehearted support for precisely the same EU targets – abortion, and all - that he had spent his entire career criticising others for pursuing... It was, to tell you the truth, a somewhat nauseating sight to behold. And I wasn't the only one to be utterly gobsmacked by this sudden, inexplicable metamor- phosis, either. Liberal MEP So- phie Int' Veldt – whom some of you might also remember as part of the 'Rule of Law' delegation to Malta in more recent years – had this to say: "I'm a bit surprised to hear that [Tonio Borg] would like to reassure people that he's not opposed to [abortion and gay rights]. I would actually find that quite astonishing. I would as- sume that if he holds strong views on those things, and if he claims, rightfully, the right to hold those views, that he will also stand by them…" Ah, but… he didn't stand by them, did he? Or a least: not when confronted by a European – as opposed to Maltese – audi- ence… On the contrary: having suc- cessfully secured the position of European Health Commission- er – precisely on the strength of publicly renouncing all his pre- vious 'anti-abortion' principles – newly-appointed Commissioner Tonio Borg proved to be every bit as good as his word. According to statistics pub- lished by the World Health Or- ganisation, there were over 1.5 million abortions performed legally in the European Union in 2013 – the only full year of Tonio Borg's tenure as Commis- sioner – which, by a remarkable coincidence, actually turns out to be an increase in European abortions over previous years. Projected over the course of his full, two-year term… I make that around 3 million unborn children: all aborted on Tonio Borg's watch. And OK: not even I would go so far as to hold the former Commissioner personal- ly responsible for all those abor- tions… but at the same time: giv- en his own, oft-repeated opinion (in Malta, at any rate) that 'abor- tion is murder'… what did Com- missioner Tonio Borg ever do to prevent any of those 'murders' from taking place, when he actu- ally had the chance? Tonio Borg