Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1504697
11 ANALYSIS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 30 JULY 2023 Abortion U-turn In what was yet to become La- bour's most radical innovation in its historical record of upholding civil liberties, the administration announced Bill 28, a law to allow doctors to effect terminations on women when pregnancy is endangering their health. The law traced its roots to the case of Andrea Prudente, an American tourist who was forced to transfer to Spain after needing an abor- tion while on holiday in Malta. Prudente started miscarrying and despite being told by doctors that her pregnancy was not viable was denied an abortion. Back in November 2022 when the Second Reading stage of Bill 28 started in parliament, Abela and several other Labour MPs made a whole-hearted defence of the proposed amendment, es- pecially the aspect that spoke of protecting women's health. The underpinning argument was that Prudente and women in her predicament should never be allowed to reach a stage where their life is put at risk before doc- tors could intervene. But seven months down the line government backtracked on its core principle to protect wom- en's health, despite the rhetoric saying otherwise. The new word- ing of Bill 28 will not solve the dilemma created in the Pruden- te case – consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist Mark Sant has said as much. Environment: Marsaskala yacht marina Abela's style of leadership is not new to sudden U-turns or at- tempts at testing the patience of civil society. In February 2022, the contro- versial Marsaskala yacht ma- rine was finally dropped after months-long campaigning from residents and civil society groups. But for months before, Labour proponents refused to give in to the justifiable anger of residents. Again, the Labour administration has faced countless community protests across many Maltese vil- lages facing the onslaught of the construction lobby since 2013. So did the Gonzi II administra- tion as an embattled government faced more localised anger inside PN-leaning communities such as Sliema who felt disenfranchised by the loss of open spaces around Tigné. Foreign policy: Russian passports On the foreign policy front, Rob- ert Abela opposed the immediate suspension opf Russian applicants from Malta's cash-for-passport scheme. Abela had in- sisted Malta's golden passports scheme was robust. After weeks of crit- icism, Abela suspended all applications by Russians and Belarusians from the controversial scheme. It was a dramatic change of stance that came on the back of mount- ing pressure from the international community not to give wealthy Russians a backdoor into Europe following its invasion of Ukraine. Abela, who in the past used his own Zejtun address to 'lend' it for two Russian passport applicants to buy Maltese citi- zenship, insisted his decision to stop passport sales to Russians was "not a u-turn" even though just 24 hours early the govern- ment had defended the scheme. "On the contrary, the decision [to suspend] was taken by the au- thorities after they carried out the necessary assessment and came to their conclusion. This shows that the authorities do their work well and that the country is serious," he said. Public defence of MPs, before acting Again, reacting to a public back- lash, Abela was forced to act on MP Rosianne Cutajar over her relationship with magnate Yorgen Fenech (accused of mastermining the Caruana Galizia assassina- tion) at a time when the MP was suspected of secretly benefiting from the Tumas CEO's largesse. Even when found guilty of an ethics breach by the Standards Commissioner over the Mdi- na property sale, Cutajar was allowed to contest the 2022 elec- tions on the Labour ticket. But it was only after her private WhatsApp chats with Fenech were produced in a defamation law- suit against Mark Camilleri that her position be- came untenable. Only two weeks before, Abela was defending Cutajar, to the extent of calling the publication of the WhatsApp chats, "misogynistic", and ar- guing that the MP had already shouldered political responsibil- ity when she resigned as Parlia- mentary Secretary in 2021. Abela seemed to now think that the MP's infamous "pigging-out" comment in the chats merited the MP's expulsion because of the public backlash against her sense of entitlement. for turning Abela with former prime minister Joseph Muscat Abela was forced to act on MP Rosianne Cutajar over her relationship with magnate Yorgen Fenech