Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1517916
tal Human Rights; and b) Macron was also the guy who had convinced Rober- ta Metsola to sign a declaration – the 'Simone Veil Pact', which likewise defines abortion as a human right – back in 2020… … I expected a far greater out- cry, from Malta's pro-life lobby, against what must surely appear (from their perspective) to be wholesale 'backslide in the rights of the unborn', right across the whole of Europe. And yet, beyond that single ar- ticle by a lawyer named Kevin Dingli (and Bishop Galea-Cur- mi's sermon): so far, I have not seen even a fleeting reference to this issue, of any kind at all, any- where in the local press. Or even online, for that matter. OK: here I may be slightly dis- advantaged, as I no longer have a Facebook account of my own, with which to spy on other peo- ple… … but back when the US Su- preme Court had reversed 'Roe Vs Wade' (the ruling through which abortion was first legal- ised in the States), the social net- works had been briefly flooded, at the time, by comments both for and against. Among the more public figures to welcome the US Supreme Court decision as 'a step in the right direction', were former PN leader Adrian Delia; PN MP Alex Borg; and any number of lower ranked officials – and even just plain old voters – from the same party. Yet when a fellow EU member state takes a radical step in the clean opposite direction [Note: and by 'radical', I mean that not everyone in the pro-choice movement is comfortable with the idea of abortion qualifying as a 'human right'. Some may even see it as a 'step too far']… Nothing, as far as I can see. Unless, of course, I missed a few Facebook comments, here and there – oh, and with the notable exception of former PN stalwart Edwin Vassallo, who remains as consistent as ever – there has been no public reaction whatso- ever, from the Nationalist Party, to the direction the entire EU seems to be taking, in the matter of abortion. But wait, that's just the start. A couple of weeks ago, Labour MEP Cyrus Engerer "billed him- self the first Maltese in Brus- sels to have spoken in favour of women's full bodily autonomy, in an impassioned intervention to a debate calling for abortion to become a fundamental right in the European Charter of fun- damental rights." Now: not to rain on Cyrus Engerer's parade, or anything, but… I have my doubts as to whether he really was the 'first Maltese in Brussels' to actual- ly do that, you know. After all, Roberta Metsola had not only called for exactly the same thing, way back in January 2020 (just before becoming EP President, remember?)… but she even went one step further, and confirmed her newfound, pro-choice cre- dentials IN WRITING, no less! But let's not split hairs, shall we? Regardless whether Cyrus Engerer made history with that 'impassioned intervention' of his… the fact remains that a La- bour MEP (and something of a Nationalist bête-noir, too: seeing as how he had 'jumped ship', a few years earlier) had the temer- ity to 'profanate' the Holy Tem- ple of the European Parliament, with such overtly 'blasphemous' pro-choice propaganda… …and not so much as a squeak from anyone – not even a mouse! – across the length and breadth of a Christian Demo- crat-inspired party, that has al- ways billed itself as an "Indefat- igable Champion of the Rights of the Unborn" (not just in Malta; but in Europe, the World, and the rest of the known Universe, to boot…) Weird, huh? And it only gets weirder, when you compare the PN's silence today – only a cou- ple of months away from the next EP election - with how the same party had always (but ALWAYS) capitalised on similar events, to besmirch their opponents with the dreaded 'pro-abortion' label. One quick example out of many: when Arnold Cassola (then still with AD) was elected as secretary-General of the Eu- ropean Greens, the Nationalists had implied that – because the Greens are a 'pro-choice' par- ty – Cassola must de facto be just as much of a 'cold-blooded, child-murdering ABORTION- IST' (hence, MURDERER), him- self. Oh, and let's not forget that the same Nationalist Party had tried to achieve the clean oppo- site, of Macron's 'historical first': they wanted to enshrine Malta's total abortion ban into our Con- stitution… with the express aim of making it as difficult as possi- ble, for future generations to in any way 'introduce abortion to Malta'. So for the same PN to sudden- ly not have anything at all to say on the subject, right now: a time when when Labour MEPs (and former MEPs: there's Joseph Muscat too, remember?) are openly calling for abortion to be hailed as a 'human right: in Mal- ta, as it is in Brussels'… .. well, there are only two ex- planations I can think of, really. And both of them are kind of, um, 'hard to believe'. Either something akin to a mir- acle REALLY occurred - possi- bly, along the lines of the Con- version of St Paul - whereby the erstwhile staunchly 'pro-life' Na- tionalist Party suddenly fell off its high-horse… and awoke two years later, to find itself mor- phed into an equally staunch 'pro-choice' party, instead; Or else, something equally mi- raculous must have happened, at the precise moment when the ink dried on Roberta Metsola's signature of the Simone Veil Pact. It turned into 'the Blood of the Unborn Child', I hear you ask? No! (Though I guess it might actually look that way, from the perspective of the many, truly committed 'pro-life champions' out there…] But no: it was a different kind of 'miracle' that Roberta Met- sola performed, by signing that pro-abortion declaration in Jan- uary 2020. Just like that, at the stroke of a pen, she made the Nationalist Pary's entire, centennial abor- tion strategy simply 'disappear', in a puff of smoke…. almost as though it never even existed, at all. And what else can I say? I might just start 'believing in miracles' a little bit more, from now on…. maltatoday | SUNDAY • 24 MARCH 2024 OPINION 11 Not so much as a squeak from anyone – not even a mouse! – across the length and breadth of a Christian Democrat-inspired party, that has always billed itself as an "Indefatigable Champion of the Rights of the Unborn"