Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1485769
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 MARCH 2022 OPINION 3 LETTERS & EDITORIAL maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 NOVEMBER 2022 Mikiel Galea Letters & Clarifications State of moral health I refer to Prof. Isabel Stabile's article "Abortion is termination of pregnan- cy". Abortion is murder of unborn ba- bies is a synonym. Elementary my dear Watson! I felt like congratulat- ing her for the excellent, factual and informative article when at the very tip of the coda she spilled the beans like a bolt from the blue or a last- kick, 96th minute goal, she argued that abortion must be decriminalised. That means that abortion could be carried out as freely as a fly settling on my teacup. The destruction of innocent human life is called murder and is one of the gravest crimes a person can commit. No Christian or decent person ques- tions this. Every person has a right to life and a right to preserve life. Opposition to abortion is based on the belief that the fertilized egg will develop into a human person and must therefore be protected. In deal- ing with the issue, however we need to make a sole important distinction. An indirect abortion which is an action whose direct intention is not to kill the foetus but to save the life of the mother. Once every effort to preserve the life of the foetus is made, removing the uterus is permis- sible, morally correct, and rational. It is only in this circumstance that an abortion should be permitted when the issue is to be debated in Parlia- ment. Let's hope that our MPs do not fail us again. Numerous quotes have been cited in the media but I don't think that Dr. Bernard Nathanson has ever been mentioned: "Abortion strikes at the heart of the integrity of family struc- ture and sexual mores. It affects vir- tually every person in this country to some extent. It also reflects the state of moral health of this society." John Azzopardi Zabbar Silent heroes of the ITU ward JUST under a month ago, my mother was taken ill suddenly, operated upon and transferred to the Intensive Ther- apy Unit at Mater Dei Hospital. She did not make it in the end, but it was not through any lack of care of attention by the nurses and doctors. The staff at the Emergency Depart- ment were immediately appraised of my mother's failing condition and went out of their way to make my family comfortable while we waited for the consulting surgeon, Matthew Cassar, to meet us. He and the rest of the staff kept mom comfortable and us updated every step of the way. And in the ITU ward, the care and attention my mother received was beyond my, and my family's, hopes. I knew patients in ITU are given the best care, but this was the first time I experienced first hand the dedication - and humanity - of the nurses who stand a constant vigil besides each bed. Nurses Diane and Daniela have our family's undying thanks for the way they looked after our mother during those 36 hours. That they also cared about our well- being in those trying moments is tes- tament to the character of the nurses who serve in the ITU. Paul Cocks Mosta