Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1503368
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 9 JULY 2023 9 INTERVIEW Arabia, when it comes to abortion that are now being introduced, it simply takes too long for there to be a timely consen- sus... still less, a timely inter- vention. And besides: what would happen if one, or more, of those three consultants is of a different opinion from the others, for 'moral' reasons? And what would happen, in a case where a complication arises before, let's say, the 12th week of pregnancy? In those cases, all it takes is 'tele-med- icine'. There is no 'abortion procedure', to speak of. It's just tablets. So... do we still need the ap- proval of those three consult- ants, to just 'prescribe med- ication'? It's appalling. It's absolutely appalling... Speaking of medical abortion, tablets, etc.: part of what your organisation does ('officially', so to speak), is provide infor- mation to the general public, on how to access precisely that sort of service, locally. Many people out there are of the opinion that this is, in itself, 'illegal' (especially given that the law specifically criminalis- es the act of 'assisting' in the procurement of an abortion). There have even been threats to take criminal action against you, and others, on that very basis... [Laughing] Not just 'threats'! We've had people like Ivan Grech Mintoff, of the ABBA party, filing not one, but two criminal complaints to the po- lice, for us to be investigated... Did the police ever act on those reports? And how do you re- spond to those accusations, anyway? Let's start with this. The ser- vice we're talking about is part of a programme called 'Fami- ly Planning Advisory Service': 'F-Pass', for short. Basically, it's a helpline that people call, to ask about anything relat- ed to the sexual reproductive rights of women: from access to contraception; to pregnan- cy tests; to... you know, just 'dealing with a pregnancy'; that sort of thing. And yes, that includes providing infor- mation about 'access to abor- tion care', too. So they [Grech Mintoff and co.] are arguing that, because we are providing information on how to access abortion care in Malta, we are therefore 'aid- ing and abetting in the crime of abortion'. Now: as for whether the po- lice took action, I believe that the first complaint was never really 'investigated', because - following the advice of the Attorney General – the police concluded that we were not doing anything illegal. The second complaint that they submitted was once again dismissed, for the same rea- son. And now, currently, Ivan Grech Mintoff and his party are challenging the police's de- cision in court: insisting that they take legal action against us – and by 'us', I specifically mean the Family Planning Ad- visory Service. That's the situ- ation as it stands, right now. As for how I 'respond'.... all I can say is, we are definitely not doing anything 'wrong', here. All we are doing, is providing information about a service that is accessible in the Euro- pean Union. So even if you only look at it from a European Union perspective: in the EU, there is something known as 'Free Movement of Goods and Ser- vice', which effectively means that any citizen, in any EU member state, has the right to access all the goods and the services, that are currently available in the European Un- ion. For that reason alone, there's nothing 'illegal' in what we are doing. And this has also been established by the European Court of Justice. In Ireland, a similar case arose back in the 1980s. And the ECJ clearly ruled [SPUC v Grogan, 1991] that abor- tion constituted a 'service', under the Treaty of the Eu- ropean Union; and that as a consequence, the Irish student group that had been prosecut- ed for providing information about that service, was not do- ing anything 'illegal'. But then, of course, you get people like Ivan Grech Mintoff: who still seems to think that we ought to be pros- ecuted, over something that is actually one of the EU's core principles: 'Freedom of Ser- vice'... Coming back to last week's ar- ticle: you ended with an appeal for MPs to 'take a stand' about Bill 28. In itself, this seems to suggest that Civil Society (or at least, the pro-choice part of it) doesn't actually have any op- tions left at its disposal, now that the Bill has been unani- mously approved. Does this mark the end of the road, for pro-choice campaigners such as yourself? Or are there oth- er ways in which you intend to carry on the fight? I wouldn't say it's the end of the road, because... the fight hasn't stopped, just because this Bill has passed. That is, in fact, the whole point of the Constitutional case filed by Andrea Prudente against the Maltese government: she is challenging the abortion ban, on the specific grounds that the lack of access to termina- tion, in a case which put her health – and potentially, her life -at risk, was a violation of her fundamental human rights. That case is still ongoing, as we speak; and I don't exclude that there may be other cases in future, too. So the system is still be- ing challenged: among other things, on the grounds that women in Malta are being discriminated against, on two counts: one, they are being denied the rights accorded to them by the Human Rights Charter; and two, they are be- ing illegally denied access to services, to which they have a right under European law. In fact, just last summer, the Foundation for Women's Rights filed a judicial protest – signed by 188 women – argu- ing that 'not having access to abortion care' is discriminato- ry, on those same grounds. And the argument is being made internationally, too. The European Parliament is now discussing this. Even Roberta Metsola herself has signed the Simone Veil Pact [which de- fines 'access to safe and legal abortion' as 'a Fundamental EU Right'].... So things are certainly mov- ing forward, at the interna- tional level. At the same time, however – and this is the part that truly scares me – there also seems to be a 'regression' going on, in terms of women's rights. Not just in Malta, where women's rights have just tak- en a massive step backwards; but in Europe, too; and the rest of the world, in general. Much as there has been pro- gress, in many countries... there has also been a 'push- back' – or a 'retaliation' – in several others. We saw this in the United States, during the Trump era; and more recently, with the reversal of 'Roe Versus Wade'. We saw it in Poland, where legislation is being made even more restrictive, when it comes to abortion care. And in Orbán's Hungary, we have even seen the introduction of 'gay-free zones'. Elsewhere, Croatia and Bulgaria refused to ratify the Istanbul Conven- tion on the Elimination of Vio- lence against Women... There is, in brief, a backlash against all the progress that has been made: not just with regard to women, but also LG- BTQ rights; minority rights; even the concept of 'funda- mental human rights', itself. And up until recently, I used to think to myself: 'How lucky we are, that we're not seeing the same thing happening here in Malta' (where, let's face it, things were moving in the op- posite direction, until fairly recently.) But... well, this is something that I can no longer think, today. Because this is exactly what it looks like, to me. What we have seen, with this Bill 28, is exactly how this sort of 'pushback' – or 'backlash', 're- gression'; call it what you will – can start to happen, in your own country. And it scares me. It scares me... a lot.