CONTINUES PAGE 6
YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT
SUNDAY 18 JANUARY 2026 • ISSUE 1368 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY
Gozo's growth
maltatoday
Morning-after pill
Falling theft
CONTINUES PAGE 4
Figures shows
reported thefts
at lowest level in
decades
JAMES
DEBONO
jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt
€2.20
PAGE 10
PAGE 2
GRDA CEO Ivan
Falzon on growth
and its risks
Emergency
contraception still
not free, more than a
year later
INTERVIEW MT2
MALTA stands out within
the European Union for its
unusually high spending on
retail pharmaceuticals, a pat-
tern that places a significant
financial burden on house-
holds.
Retail medicines account-
ed for 18% of Malta's total
health expenditure in 2023,
well above the EU average
of 13%.
Maltese are
second-highest
EU spenders
on medicines
'No woman will go to prison
for abortion on my watch'
NICOLE
MEILAK
nmeilak@mediatoday.com.mt
NO woman will go to prison for
abortion under Robert Abela's
watch, the prime minister told Mal-
taToday in an informal exchange
last week.
Abela told the MaltaToday news-
room that he does not believe wom-
en should go to prison for having
an abortion and will comfortably
use his prerogative as prime min-
ister to recommend swapping any
prison sentence with a conditional
discharge.
Abortion remains illegal in Malta
and women and their doctors can
be sent to prison.
"I don't agree with sending women
to prison for abortion," Abela said.
THE NEWSROOM EXCHANGE: Robert Abela
meets the MaltaToday newsroom
PAGES 12-14
