Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1502308
NEWS 9 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 28 JUNE 2023 3. Abela over-reached by prematurely committing himself not to deviate from the Bill's two basic principles. He ended up under delivering, a suggestion that he lacks the stamina and conviction go the whole hog. Abela could have predicted Vella's reticence in signing the Bill as proposed and could have waited until the expiry of his presidential term, if he was so scared of a showdown – iron- ically, Joseph Muscat did this in 2014 when the Civil Un- ion's Bill was delayed until af- ter George Abela's presidency ended in April that same year. Instead, Robert Abela raised expectations. He initially blew his reformist trumpet by fram- ing the new law in Labour's his- torical struggle against "con- servative forces" which had opposed it in the 1960s. And back in December Abela gave a clear indication that while ready to make changes to the proposed Bill he was digging his heels on "two principles", from which "we can't deviate". These two principles were de- fined as "the safeguarding of the health of the mother when she's in grave danger during pregnancy" and "the safeguard- ing of the life of the mother when at risk". Now, Abela finds himself de- fending a law which has clear- ly deviated from one of its two original principles. The repur- posed Bill 28 ditched the prin- ciple that one should not wait for a woman to be on the brink of death to act preventively to safeguard her health from grave jeopardy. Moreover, it was thanks to the inclusion of both principles that the Bill could address bor- der line cases like that of An- drea Prudente who was not in the immediate risk of death but whose health condition could have deteriorated further to the point where her life could have been endangered. According to respected gy- naecologist Mark Sant, under the new Bill, Prudente would have had to wait for a "mas- sive infection for her life to be in jeopardy and action taken". Ultimately by giving up on one of the two principles guiding the law, Abela has shown that he lacked both the appetite and the stamina to carry on a prin- cipled fight as he had initially indicated. 4. After framing opposition to the law as symptomatic of the historical aversion to Labour by 'conservative forces' Abela has earned the praise of Labour's historical adversaries while alienating its likeliest allies in future battles. In so doing he is confusing Labour voters. Abela now finds himself de- fending a 'compromise' dis- owned by the liberal voices in civil society who had vocifer- ously supported the original Bill and applauded by those segments in civil society who originally had fought tooth and nail against it. This episode raises a crucial question for liberals and progressives; why should they support Labour if the party is so unwilling to fight for the battles which mat- ter most to them? Abela already has few friends in Maltese civil society, mainly thanks to Labour's shortcom- ings in environmental and rule of law issues. This was one of the rare occasions where La- bour was in synch with liberal civil society organisations, as it previously was when it em- barked on enacting the most progressive LGBTIQ+ laws in Europe. In that case Mus- cat did not settle for the bare minimum, introducing same sex adoptions at a time when surveys still showed that a ma- jority favoured civil unions but not adoptions. But by going the whole hog Muscat gained the gratitude of a forsaken minor- ity and a degree of good will among the liberal intelligent- sia. Abela seemed heading in the same direction, even getting favourable coverage on the in- ternational media and nods in diplomatic circles, where the extremely conservative stance of the Nationalist opposition is frowned upon. One can argue that civil soci- ety also includes conservative voices who campaigned against the law and that by winning their endorsement Abela has managed to remove Malta's blanket ban on abortion with their support. But this comes at the expense of losing the good- will of feminists and liberals who now feel betrayed. The final version of the Bill was not a compromise en- dorsed by the two sides of the debate, but a capitulation which forced government to drop one of the fundamental aspects of its original proposal. Abela knows that the endorse- ment of the anti-abortion lob- by will not last and that his par- ty will remain at odds with the now emboldened conservative forces, but he still preferred their endorsement to that of the party's natural allies in civil liberties issues. 5. Abela has unintentionally saved Metsola from a major embarrassment in next year's MEP elections. By defusing the abortion is- sue, Abela has unintentionally saved Roberta Metsola from a major embarrassment in next year's MEP elections in which her willingness to respect the pro-choice views of the EU parliament contrasted with the intransigent position of her own party. Had Abela pressed on with the original amendment, the PN's most valuable asset in next year's election risked be- ing dragged into a crusade spearheaded by her party. It risked overshadowing next year's MEP election. While Metsola has rightly made a distinction between her personal pro-life views and her institutional obligation to re- spect the pro-choice stance of the European parliament, sup- porters of her party were urg- ing President George Vella to do the opposite by vetoing the amendment. Moreover, Metsola had kept a distance from the abortion debate in Malta, fully know- ing that the extremist position of her party on this issue is shunned in diplomatic circles. She had also previously tweet- ed her parliament's concern on the US Supreme Court de- cision to revoke Roe vs Wade judgment, which recognised abortion rights in the USA. And while Metsola's silence on the Maltese amendment was noted by ultra conservative ele- ments who resent her, Metsola can now bank on her credibility on other issues instead of being dragged into a crusade which risked burning her bridges in Europe... and for this she must thank Robert Abela. why abortion U-turn has diminished Abela