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maltatoday SUNDAY 18 MARCH 2018 Interview 15 The Women's Rights Foundation has stirred a hornet's nest by launching a position paper proposing – among other things – 'legal access to safe abortion' in at least four 'exceptional circumstances'. But to LARA DIMITRIJEVIC, human rights lawyer and WRF chairperson, access to abortion is a matter of individual rights, not popularity turn means that you also need a level of political support. Yet all political parties have repeatedly declared themselves pro-life, and the three in parliament have all made it clear they disagree with your proposals. How do you propose to change the political status quo? That is why we issued this posi- tion paper: to highlight the lack of understanding and aware- ness that exists around this is- sue. I think that, once it is talked about, and debated in a healthy way... and we've had people ap- proach us and say, 'You know, actually, come to think of it: what you're saying makes sense...'. It shouldn't surprise us, either. Over the years, Malta's come a long way. We have civil unions, gay marriage, cohabitation... so I don't see why this country can- not also try to understand, and discuss this by listening to each other. I think a healthy debate would change things. There has, however, been some discussion about the details of the position paper. One criticism is that your proposals represent the 'thin end of the wedge': today, the discussion is only about women in danger of dying, or foetal anomalies... tomorrow, it will be about abortion on demand. Isn't this concern partly justified? Isn't this ultimately about a woman's right to choose, beyond exceptional or extreme circumstances? It's not just us saying that wom- en have the right to choose. To go back to fundamental human rights: women do have the right to choose. I've already men- tioned the relevant conventions, but even the European Human Rights Commission have repeat- edly stressed this on their previ- ous visits to Malta; and there are rulings by the European Court of Human Rights. The right to abortion is not, in itself, a specif- ic human right; but the right of access to safe abortion is. That's it, basically... we are breaching women's fundamental human rights. If a woman wants ac- cess to an abortion: who am I to judge, who am I to condemn? It happens anyhow, just the same. But not to have it accessible, and legalised – without the stigma – in those specific circumstances: to me, that is a case of inhuman and degrading treatment. Yet it could be argued – I've heard this argument myself, coming from Maltese women – that abortion is already accessible... ... to the privileged... ... yes, but the argument also goes that Maltese women, in the main, actually prefer it that way. Even if abortion were legal, and clinics were available locally, they would still go abroad to avoid all the stigma and hullaballoo. In a word, there is a level at which everyone (or almost everyone) is comfortable with the status quo. How much truth is there to that view? First of all: it IS for the privi- leged, let's face it. It's true that there are cheap airlines nowa- days, but not everyone can af- ford to go abroad and have an abortion. But again, I would say it's also a question of insularity. I have my own personal opinion about this. It's as though we've cocooned ourselves here: we've created this image that we have of ourselves, that we're Catholics – it's a big part of our national identity – but at the same time, we're hypocritical about it. Be- cause we still go abroad and do things differently. And that's fine, because it happens there... not here. Here, we have to pre- tend. Even among the 'privi- leged': they'll go and do it abroad. They won't do it here, just in case the neighbours talk about it. [...] I think education has a big part to play here. Once we edu- cate ourselves, and understand... we would have to be in a position where we're ashamed or want to hide. Again, as a country we've come really far on other matters. I am sure it can happen when we talk about sex education and contraception, too. Let's face it, we still have this mentality with children going to buy condoms. It's 'embarrassing'. Why? Why should it be 'embarrassing' to buy a packet of condoms? Meanwhile, surveys continue indicate an overwhelming pro- life majority: according to our latest poll, as high as 90%. You have separately argued that these figures may be inflated on account of the associated stigma. What do you think is the real situation on the ground? Do you have indications of a ground- swell change in national opinion? Let's go back to the fact that what we're talking about here are fundamental human rights. It's not a matter of popularity; it's a matter about that indi- vidual. And women have ap- proached us with their stories. That is why we did what we did; because we need to give a voice to those individual rights... those individual stories. It's not about popularity. This is something we really have to keep in mind. But yes, we've had cases where people have told us, 'Before, I couldn't even think about the word 'abortion'. But I've read the paper, and I can understand what your reasoning is.' Yes, those people might possibly consider... definitely decrimi- nalising: because they would see that they can't judge those indi- viduals anyhow. I think just that, in itself, is a ray of hope. But I need to stress once more that this is not about popularity rat- ings. It's about individual rights. This is not a referendum issue. I'm very disappointed – well, not 'disappointed', in the sense that I understand what Ireland is go- ing through: that it has to amend its Constitution – but this is not an issue to be decided by a popu- larity contest. Far from it. popularity contest' PHOTO JAMES BIANCHI

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