Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1489031
9 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 25 DECEMBER 2022 tually went on to load a shotgun and fire two shots at his ex-wife: one to the chest, another to the face. It turned out that Cassar had filed a report with the police against her aggressor, but the court was only going to hear the case in November 2023. In to- tal, she filed five police reports against her husband for domestic violence, one of them as recent- ly as the day before her murder. Charges had been issued for three of the reports, and the court imposed a protection order in favour of Cassar. Malta was again left shaken by the third femicide of 2022. For a moment, Bernice became the symbol of Malta's domes- tic violence crisis. Activists pointed an accusing finger at the system for failing her, and other woman who face administrative hur- dles when seeking safety from domestic violence. They argued that Bernice Cassar exhausted all legal avenues after plucking up the courage to stand up and move away from her abusive sit- uation, only to be failed by court delays and inadequate police re- sponse to her complaints. She had been assaulted by her husband outside the Floriana health centre on 13 November. On the day, she immediately fled the health centre to the nearby police headquarters, where she waited seven hours, unsuccess- fully, to file her report. She re- turned the next day and waited another two hours to file her report. But when called in for questioning, her husband nev- er turned up. Bernice then filed another report on the eve of her murder because her husband once again breached the protec- tion order. 24 hours later she was killed in cold blood. Abortion debate in full swing Pro-choice activists continued with their pressure to keep the abortion issue at the top of the agenda, culminating in the even- tual introduction of an exception to Malta's blanket ban on abor- tion. This year, the pressure started in court. 188 women filed a ju- dicial protest against the health ministry to not only remove Malta's blanket ban on abortion, but also to decriminalise and legalise the procedure. The ju- dicial protest, filed by the Wom- en's Rights Foundation, argued that the ban was having a direct impact on the plaintiffs' quality of life by depriving them of the right to make decisions about their health, family, future, and general well-being, as well as precluding them of their right to bodily autonomy. Shortly after, 135 doctors signed a separate judicial protest requesting the removal of Arti- cle 243 of the Laws of Malta so that medical professionals will no longer be criminalised when a patient needs to terminate their pregnancy. The article con- cerns physicians, surgeons, ob- stetricians or apothecaries who knowingly perform abortion or prescribe the means by which an abortion can be carried out. Such medical professionals could be subject to a maximum four year prison sentence and perpetual interdiction from their profes- sion. Almost poetically, shortly be- fore this protest was submitted, Mater Dei Hospital refused to terminate the unviable preg- nancy of American tourist An- drea Prudente. Prudente was on holiday in Malta with her part- ner when she went to the Gozo emergency unit and was later admitted to Mater Dei Hospital after suffering what seemed like a miscarriage, with heavy bleed- ing followed by breaking waters. An ultrasound showed ruptured membranes and a detaching pla- centa, but the fetus still had a heartbeat. She requested a ter- mination of pregnancy, but she was told that doctors can only intervene if she is imminently dying. Prudente's case prompted Health Minister Chris Fearne to order a review of the Laws of Malta to determine whether aspects of it could be hindering doctors from giving proper care to patients. This paved the way to the first major change to the abortion ban, which would allow for an exception if the woman's health and life are at risk. It also paved the way to a fierce debate on abortion, pitting the Labour Party and pro-choice ac- tivists against a coalition of an- ti-abortion groups, the Maltese Catholic Church, evangelicals River of Love, and the National- ist Party. The debate hinges largely on whether the "health" aspect should be removed from govern- ment's amendment to the abor- tion law. It all started when three prominent academics came out arguing that the abortion tweak will allow for termination in cases where the mother's men- tal health is also at risk. "This means abortion will be allowed if a woman is going through se- rious mental conditions, none of which should ever justify the sacrifice of a baby's life," the ac- ademics argued in a letter to the press. This argument was co-opted by Life Network Foundation, and later the Church, and eventually the Nationalist Party. The talking points do not differ much between each faction. They argue that Pru- d e n t e ' s life was never in dager, that a wom- an who is fit to give birth should not be allowed to termi- nate her pregnancy, and that the tweak is a precursor to the full legalisation of abortion in Malta. Eventually, they came togeth- er for an anti-abortion march through Valletta against the amendments. Thousands gath- ered outside Castille to voice their anger on the reform, with even Labour heavyweight and President Emeritus Marie Lou- ise Coleiro Preca addressing the crowd against the amendment. The anti-abortion lobby put on a show of force that day. Howev- er, there have been many signs that the public opinion on Mal- ta's abortion laws is shifting to be more sympathetic to the pro- choice cause. A MaltaToday-Po- lar survey found that 53.3%, an absolute majority, believe that women who have an abortion should not be sent to prison. Meanwhile, 27.5% agree with imprisoning women who have gotten an abortion. This was a 10-point drop over the results of a similar survey conducted the year before. But the opinion remains nu- anced. While the majority do not agree with sending women to hospital, anti-abortion senti- ment still runs high with almost 62% of people saying they are totally against abortion regard- less of the circumstance. This survey, conducted two months before the aforementioned re- port, showed that only 27.8% of people are in favour abortion in particular cases, while a further 8.3% agree with abortion what- ever the circumstance. What's for sure is that abortion is no longer the political taboo it used to be. Even during the election campaign trail, Prime Minister Robert Abela came out saying that the public debate on abortion should not be stifled. This was the first time abortion got a mention in the electoral campaign, this time without the leader of a majority party out- rightly dismissing or condemn- ing the one-time taboo subject. But what does the abortion debate hold for next year? Pep- pi Azzopardi, who is one of the faces fronting the anti-abortion movement, already floated the idea of an abrogative referendum if the government's amendment passes in parliament. Indeed, he said that the next step should be to hold a referendum to have the clause deleted. The Court will also have to decide on the cou- ple of judicial protests filed this year on Malta's abortion ban. Re- gardless of the direction, the de- bate has come a long way since former minister Tonio Borg's 2005 idea to have the criminal provisions against abortion en- trenched in the constitution. The rise of the feminist voice If recent years are anything to go by, the feminist voice of activ- ists will not quiet down. Wom- en's rights activists took to the streets repeatedly over 2022, and without fail, whether they were protesting femicide, domestic vi- olence, inaccess to healthcare or gender inequality. Even this year's pro-choice rally, when hundreds marched through Valletta in favour of le- galising abortion, was the largest of its kind compared to the first pro-choice rally held in 2019. A handful of activists and medi- cal professionals had been speak- ing out on the abortion debate. Now hundreds of women are sharing the stories on abortion and domestic violence in what promise to be important fron- tiers as Malta heads into 2023.