Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1500676
ly ends with the line, "As the Voice for Choice coalition, we call on the state to decriminal- ise abortion now"...) ... and not only that: but the same Robert Abela has also consistently presented him- self, over the years, as being a resolutely, steadfastly, 'pro- life' politician: i.e., the sort who is vehemently AGAINST the decriminslisation of abor- tion, in all scenarios (or at least: those scenarios where the mother's health is not at risk....) For instance: when, in Janu- ary 2020 – just weeks after he became Prime Minister – Jo- seph Muscat suddenly popped up out of nowhere, calling on him to relax Malta's to- tal abortion ban... Abela's re- sponse was to declare that: 'If he [Muscat] wants to intro- duce abortion, he will find me fighting against him!'... And when I interviewed Chris Fearne on (roughly) the same subject, last December, the very first words the Health Minister said (in any answer to the question: 'will the lat- est amendment decriminalise abortion?) were: "No, abso- lutely not. The law that regu- lates abortion in this country is basically Chapter 9, Arti- cle 243 of the Criminal Code: which, in a few words, states that whoever terminates a pregnancy – for any reason, and by whatever means – is li- able to a prison sentence. Doc- tors and specialists face up to four years imprisonment, and will lose their warrants; the mother - or anyone else who assists her - faces up to three years. That is what the law says, and we are not going to change any of it. EVERYTHING WILL REMAIN EXACTLY AS IT IS TODAY." [My emphasis]. Got that, folks? Until last De- cember, at least, the official policy of Robert Abela's ad- ministration, on the subject of abortion, was to simply 'retain the status quo'. We had a law which threatened women with imprisonment – ALL wom- en, by the way: including the 'young', 'mentally-impaired' and 'physically abused' one, that Robert Abela now feels so 'sorry' for – for procuring an abortion... and yet, despite countless calls for the Prime Minister to actually do some- thing, about this 'shocking', 'distressing' reality... Robert Abela simply dug his heels; and refused to ever budge even a single inch, from Malta's 'to- tal abortion ban'. So, um... can anyone out there explain to me how, ex- actly, the same Robert Abela who has always been so con- sistent, in opposing the de- criminalisation of abortion in this country, would sud- denly turn around, and tell us all about 'uncomfortable' he feels... now that the same law that he himself has defended tooth and nail, ever since be- coming Prime Minister three years ago, is actually being ENACTED, for a change? Sorry, but it just doesn't add up. Either our Prime Minister AGREES with a law that states (to quote a member of his own Cabinet): "whoever terminates a pregnancy – for any reason, and by whatever means – is li- able to a prison sentence"... ... in which case, he should feel entirely 'comfortable' with the criminal prosecution of that woman (actually: he should be outraged that she got off so 'lightly', in the end...) Or else, our Prime Minister DISAGREES with that law; in which case... ... well, the question sort of asks itself, doesn't it? What the bleeding hell is stopping him from actually changing that law: to remove, once and for all, what he himself now de- scribes as a 'social injustice'? (And so soon, too, after defin- ing himself – without even a hint of irony, or self-depreca- tion - as 'someone who is not afraid of change', in that same interview?) So many questions, so little time... maltatoday | SUNDAY • 4 JUNE 2023 OPINION 11 Can anyone out there explain to me how, exactly, the same Robert Abela who has always been so consistent, in opposing the decriminalisation of abortion in this country, would suddenly turn around, and tell us all about 'uncomfortable' he feels... now that the same law that he himself has defended tooth and nail, ever since becoming Prime Minister three years ago, is actually being ENACTED, for a change? that abortion verdict...