Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1471907
8 NEWS ANALYSIS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 29 JUNE 2022 Post-SCOTUS: Is Malta's abortion The overturning of Roe v Wade triggered abortion bans in at least 13 American states, emboldening anti-abortionists globally. But the indignation of world leaders – Johnson, Macron and Trudeau among them – strengthens the call to recognise abortion as a fundamental right in the EU. JAMES DEBONO makes four ref lections on what impact this can have on Malta, the only country in the EU with a total abortion ban The realisation that abortion rights can be rolled back has strengthened calls to enshrine reproductive rights in the EU's charter. Resisting the global fightback for abortion rights may pose difficulties for a government which prides itself on its progressivism Back in 1973 the Supreme Court's (SCOTUS) decision in the Roe vs. Wade case effec- tively recognised abortion as a constitutional right, which could not be overruled by individual states in the union. This created a degree of equality in access to healthcare between women liv- ing in different states. By revers- ing this decision, a conservative majority in the Supreme Court strengthened by appointments made by Donald Trump has up- held the right of individual states to ban or limit abortion. One may say that the EU is not so dif- ferent than the US, because Mal- ta was still allowed in the club despite a total ban on abortion; while others like Poland have limited abortion to pregnancies resulting from criminal acts and to cases where the mother's life or health is at risk. But the European Union is not a fully blown federation like the USA, and only regulates matters covered by treaties, which pres- ently do not refer to access to reproductive rights in its mem- ber states. Malta even included a protocol in its accession trea- ty stating that "nothing in the Treaty on European Union, or in the Treaties establishing the Eu- ropean Communities, or in the Treaties or Acts modifying or supplementing those Treaties, shall affect the application in the territory of Malta of national legislation relating to abortion". But in the current internation- al climate, momentum is grow- ing for recognising abortion as a fundamental right of all EU citizens, something support- ed by major European political families like the Greens, the left, socialists and liberals. And Mal- ta's position is rendered more precarious by a law which is even more draconian than the bans triggered by the SCOTUS, which at the very least make an exception when the life of the mother is at risk. Addressing the European Par- liament in January, French Pres- ident Emmanuel Macron said the right to abortion should be added to the EU Charter of Fun- damental Rights, a call support- ed by the centrist Renew group, and left-wing groups. Macron also intends to raise the issue in the European Council. Currently Malta and Poland can still block any such move, although the unanimity requirement which paralyses EU action on so many issues, may still be one of the casualties of the impending re- form of EU structures rendered urgent by the Russian threat. And it would be embarrassing for a Labour administration, which prides itself on its track record on civil liberties, to ally itself with ultra conservatives in Poland to oppose abortion rights. What is sure is that politi- cal pressure on Malta to align it- self to the European mainstream is bound to pile up in the next months. The reputational fall- out may well be too much a price to pay for a government whose political allies in Europe support abortion rights. The SCOTUS decision has emboldened conservatives in the PN who feel less alone in the world in their opposition to abortion. But the reaction within the European Union may have the opposite effect Former PN leader Adrian De- lia was quick to praise the de- cision of the Supreme Court to strike down the constitutional right to abortion, describing it, in somewhat hackneyed terms, as "an historic decision" where "in the land of the free, life has prevailed." During his tenure, the party turned abortion as its main bat- tlecry in MEP elections in 2019 but failed to make any inroads. Such positions risk further al- ienating liberals increasingly feeling estranged and left out from the PN. While the party is bound by its statute to defend life from conception, it cannot ignore the growing sociological rift between two blocs of its vot- ers: namely that between con- servative grassroot activists and a cohort of younger, educated and continentally-minded vot- ers whose first memories of the PN was that of the EU referen- dum campaign. The images of civil society pro- tests against abortion bans in the US is also bound to capture the imagination of the growing seg- ment of Maltese who identify as global citizens. The frustrations of this cohort were expressed by the party's policy research pres- ident Martina Caruana who de- nounced Malta's abortion laws as "sadistic and primitive" as she criticised MPs for staying silent about the case of US tourist An- drea Prudente. Bernard Grech's constant bal- ancing acts, U-turns, and ina- bility to move the party forward, is further exasperating these voters. At the same time, tim- id attempts by Grech to open the party to social liberals have backfired, alienating conserv- atives who feel that the party is distancing itself from its roots. In short, the PN has to decide on whether to become a main- stream centrist party where liberals can feel at home or to create a home for conservatives including traditional Labour voters, many of who resent the same European values, which the PN prides itself on. Surely Delia's message stands out for clarity but this comes at a cost for a big tent party, which is condemned by the electoral system to incorporate within it a vast spectrum of voters. All this is happening in a context where, in a bid to gain legitimacy even far-right leaders like Giorgia Meloni and Marine Le Pen have committed themselves not to overturn their respective coun- try's abortion laws, despite har- bouring anti-abortion activists in the past and using regional