THE FUTURE OF ABORTION IN THE EU'S LAST
PRO LIFE STRONGHOLD
In Malta, abortion remains a taboo and difficult subject despite years of related policy change
By Rebekah Alvey and Eliška Mainclová
Despite a decade of policy change, Malta has retained an absolute ban on abortion. However, the sole women’s rights NGO in the country and international pressure may be starting a conversation for change.
Malta is now the last EU country and one out of six countries in the world with a zero tolerance policy on abortion according to the Women's Rights Foundation in Malta. Criminal Code of Malta states that a woman undergoing the termination face up to three years in jail and the doctor even up to four years’ long imprisonment for performing an abortion.
The Laws of Malta do not consider it illegal, however, if a woman goes to another country where abortion is available to undergo the procedure.
Abortion: A risk in the medical field
Martin Balzan, president of the Medical Association in Malta, said no doctors within Malta were pushing for any changes to the abortion policies. He also included that because performing an abortion is a criminal offense, a doctor would risk review by the medical council if they did attempt to lobby for change.
Additionally, Balzan pointed out if a doctor is reported to have referred a patient to travel outside of Malta for an abortion, it would be reviewed by the ethics committee. However, he said he was unaware of any such cases.
“If a doctor is stealing, for example, he may have issues with the regular authorities, since it is a criminal offense,” Balzan said. “You can’t be an accomplice to a criminal offense.”
If a woman was to go abroad to have an abortion performed, returned to Malta and began to have complications, Balzan explained there is no obligation for a doctor to report this to police, and the woman could be treated. If the abortion was found to have been performed in Malta, however, the doctor would need to report to the police.
Balzan said the national discussion currently isn’t directly focused on abortion. Instead Malta is focused on embryo freezing, which relates to abortion. There are concerns about frozen embryo, with the intention for use in fertility therapy, being damaged.
“In our predominantly Roman Catholic culture, if an embryo is damaged—on the principle that life starts at fertilisation—that is potentially an abortion,” Balzan said.
To date, the medical association has not taken a position on embryo freezing. However, Balzan reported there is a group of doctors who have already gathered 600 signatures to prevent the legislation. In Malta, Balzan said, there are roughly 1200 practising doctors.
Balzan explained that, in his personal perspective, public opinion leans in favor of the current laws on abortion and will not be changing until the public opinion does.
A survey conducted by local newspaper Malta Today in February 2018, reported the majority of Malta remains against abortion and in support of the current laws. One survey question asked, “Do you agree with unrestricted abortion in the first three months of pregnancy (12 weeks)?” to which 95.2 percent of the total population said no.
Opening the door to debate
Helena Dalli, the Maltese minister for European affairs and equality, doesn’t anticipate the Irish referendum having much impact on Malta because the conversation is just beginning on the island. However, she said in the far future she could see a change happening from the conversation in younger generations.
In and outside of Malta, Dalli has dealt with criticism around the topic of abortion.
When discussing civil unions, embryo freezing or other “liberal” changes, Dalli admits she has received critique from Maltese politicians for “opening the door” to abortion.
“When you introduce this kind of liberal thinking, this liberal way of life, abortion is the next step,” she said critics have claimed.
Additionally, Malta has received criticism from Nils Muižnieks, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for human rights, that there is not a discussion on abortion. In a report done by the commissioner, he noticed how the absolute ban on abortion threatened women’s rights.
“Women have the human right to a safe reproductive life, free from coercion. I hope that Malta’s legislation will soon conform with this reality,” Muižnieks said in the report, released in February.
As an answer to Muižnieks’ open letter to Maltese prime minister Joseph Muscat, he argued that “(his) government neither had the political mandate to open a debate on access to abortion, nor the support of public”.
Malta currently ranks number one in Rainbow Europe, a system which looks at LGBT rights across Europe. Malta was the first European country to ban conversion therapy. In three years, Malta legalised civil unions, marriage and laws for transgendered people to identify without surgery.
The Statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, located in Spinola Bay. In Malta there are 359 churches and 98% of the country is a reported Roman Catholic according to World Population Review.
Photo by Rebekah Alvey
Changing the conversation
The Women’s Rights Foundation (WRF), the first NGO in Malta to address issues of women’s rights, specifically sexual and reproductive rights, has recently taken a more public approach to change the dialogue and public opinion on abortion.
In March 2018, WRF released the first position paper regarding sexual and reproductive rights, including abortion. In the paper, WRF recommends that Malta decriminalizes abortion, women seeking post-abortion aid, and providing open access to abortions in situations of rape or incest, cases of severe fatal foetal impairment, to save a woman’s life or to preserve a woman’s physical or mental health.
The foundation was created in 2013 by Maltese lawyer Lara Dimitrijevic, who said she felt the need to create an organization specifically aimed at addressing women’s rights and legal support. She said WRF initially provided legal aid to victims of rape, sex trafficking or domestic abuse.
From there, Dimitrijevic explained the foundation expanded to provide legal support and later advocate for sexual, reproductive rights, beginning with emergency contraception, or the morning-after pill.
She said that WRF addressed the issue as a problem of social inequality, explaining that people with the money and resources to go to another country to legally purchase contraceptive pills are putting those without such resources at a disadvantage.
When it comes to abortion, Dimitrijevic said there is a similar argument to emergency contraception. She said a wealthy or “privileged” Maltese woman may go to another country and have an abortion.
“Isn’t that, again, blatant discrimination?” she asked.
Katherine O’Brien, head of media and policy research for British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), a non-profit organization that arranges services such as contraception access, STI screenings and abortion care, said the cost of an abortion can range from a few hundred to a thousand pounds, depending on the procedure and gestation for a Maltese woman.
Additionally, because of the stigma in Malta, O’Brien explained women will need to take time off, which is difficult to keep confidential and makes the decision making process more difficult.
Typically, women from Malta arrive later during their pregnancy because of the time it takes to arrange their funds, flights, time off work or child care. O’Brien said although abortion is safe, it is safer when performed early in the pregnancy.
These women prefer receiving a medical abortion, which involves taking a pill which causes a miscarriage. O’Brien said Maltese women usually want to go, have the procedure and leave the same day, which means a medical abortion is not recommended. Instead, women undergo a surgical procedure.
When contacting BPAS, O’Brien said women should talk with a member over the phone to set an appointment and have a consultation. In her experience, Maltese women were nervous about being overheard and would prefer to reach out on social media, which she said is worrisome for the organization.
A taboo ingrained in society
Lara Dimitrijevic from WRF acknowledged that the majority of the population is still against abortion, in most cases, and said there is still a large taboo around abortion and sex in general. In her perspective, Dimitrijevic said this could be attributed to Malta’s history as a British colony.
“I think, as part of our independence, we adopted Catholicism,” Dimitrijevic claimed.
Even in Malta’s constitution, Dimitrijevic pointed to the Roman Catholic influence. She said rates of practising Catholics, those who attend mass regularly, are decreasing; however, the Catholic “identity” has remained. She believes this identity has played a role in current abortion laws as well as other recent policy changes.
When divorce in Malta was legalised in 2011, Dimitrijevic assumed this policy change was more accepted, despite it going against Catholic ideas, because separation had already been permitted for decades. This led to many situations of separated couples having other families, or, again, wealthy citizens having the opportunity to go to another country to officialize a divorce.
When it came to changing LGBTQ policy, Dimitrijevic stated the campaign was more of a “political manifesto,” which was pushed politically and not left for the public to decide.
“When it comes to this situation of abortion, it is so ingrained in you,” Dimitrijevic said. “Even as children, we are indoctrinated that you hear the word abortion, and it’s an absolute no-go.”
Even though Dimitrijevic considers herself a feminist and open-minded, it took her a long time to process the idea of abortion. She added the process involved a lot of “inner turmoil,” making her deconstruct what society had taught her.
Blanche Leenhouts, 49 who was born and raised in Malta but later moved to Wales in 2004, recalled her experiences while living in Malta. She said the country has become more liberal; however, there are people who still have strong opinions against abortion and contraception.
“The local pharmacist would give you a lecture. I was told that I shouldn’t be needing condoms because I wasn’t married. My brother was also given a talking to,” Leenhouts explained.
Leenhouts attributed a lot of the stigma around these topics to religion and social conditioning. She said children in Malta are usually baptised right after birth, and from that point, there are major religious events throughout your life.
In an interview with Euronews, a world news organization based in France, an anonymous woman told reporter Valérie Gauriat she made the decision to have an abortion after talking with her husband. She already had four children and decided it would be best.
“It’s something hard, mostly because you can’t share it with anyone in Malta,” the woman said. “You have to carry a secret like you’ve done something really wrong.”
“I was pro-life before, you know. I never thought it would happen to me, you know. But it did. This can happen to anyone,” she said. “I’m not a criminal. I’m a loving mother and I think I did it mostly because I care about my four children.”
The monument for the unborn child, provided by Gift of Life foundation in 2006, sits in between the cities of Mosta and Naxxar.
Photo by Rebekah Alvey
Organizations defending ‘life’
Pro-life organizations in Malta suggest an alternative to legalising abortion and claim to have the support of the public.
Miriam Sciberras, chairman of Life Network Foundation Malta, a pro-life organization founded in 2014, said she has noticed pressure and change on abortion public policy since Malta joined the EU in 2004. Still, the majority of Maltese people are against abortion, she pointed out.
Sciberras volunteered with pro-life organizations in and out of Malta before becoming chairman of the Life Network Foundation. Through this, she has met people who have had an abortion and didn’t feel it helped.
In her point of view, no one wants to have an abortion but do so out of necessity. Because of this, Sciberras believes the focus should be on providing more support for the mother to take care of the child.
“If given the choice, most women would choose life.”
Although there is child support and maternity support in Malta, Sciberras opposes there is not enough. Specifically, she felt there was not enough assistance for student mothers.
From Sciberras’ perspective, most women would choose to have an abortion if they felt the baby would interfere with their education, career or financial concerns. She said there should be programs to assist with these issues, suggesting job training and education programs.
“The solution is not to offer abortion—the solution is to offer support to women,” Sciberras said. “Life should always be given a chance.”
When it came to the position paper released by WRF, Sciberras said she did not agree with the exceptions listed and explained she had met people born of incest and rape. She said they were “beautiful people, whom others would have easily said their life was not worth living.”
Sciberras said she sees this time, where Malta is the last EU country with an absolute ban, as an opportunity and gives Malta a choice to turn the tide on abortion. In the end, she said she hopes they are strong enough to withstand the choice for abortion.
International influence
Throughout Europe there have been changes to abortion policy within the past year. In April, Cyprus decriminalised abortion under certain circumstances. The Catholic country of Ireland dominated media attention when a referendum changing the abortion laws happened 25 May.
Dimitrijevic said the progress and campaign in Ireland have given WRF hope as an organization. She said she is unsure if the results will have any impact on public opinion in Malta but is optimistic.
The campaign to change abortion policy in Ireland has been going on for over 30 years, which Dimitrijevic said is a big difference between the two countries.
“In the Maltese context, nothing has been done,” Dimitrijevic said. “We really have to start from scratch.”
Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, sits on the bay in popular tourist town, St. Julians.
Photo by Rebekah Alvey
ABOUT
This article was conducted as a final project of two journalism students participating in international semester program Journalism, Multimedia and World Politics at Danish School of Media and Journalism in Aarhus, Denmark, in May 2018.