Woman in Malta charged in court for having abortion
A woman in Malta has been charged in court for having an abortion, in a rare enforcement of the country’s total ban on terminations.
The Women’s Rights Foundation of Malta said: “What should have never happened [has] happened today: a Maltese woman was brought to court facing charges of having a medical abortion at home.”
Its legal team had helped the unnamed woman throughout the proceedings, it said, “and she was let go with a conditional discharge”, without giving further details.
The foundation said she had been treated with dignity and respect but “this should have never, ever happened in the first place”.
Dr Natalie Psaila, from the support and campaign group Doctors for Choice Malta, told Agence FrancePresse the woman had contacted its hotline asking for help in finding a lawyer. But she said she had few details on what happened next because Thursday’s case was heard behind closed doors.
“No woman should ever be prosecuted for terminating her own pregnancy. Decriminalise abortion now,” Doctors for Choice Malta said in Facebook
post.
Catholic-majority Malta is the only country in the EU that completely bans abortion. Its parliament is debating a draft law that would allow a termination if the mother’s life or health was at serious risk.
The Catholic church and the main opposition party are against the move but there are signs of public support, particularly among young people.
The Women’s Rights Foundation said: “Access to safe abortion is recognised worldwide as a basic part of women’s healthcare and a basic right. That women are prosecuted for it locally should put us all to shame.”
Robert Abela’s Labour government said its proposed change in the law was not “abortion reform” but a move to ensure medical professionals could do their work without fear.
Under the existing ban, any medical professional who carries out an abortion in any circumstance would be breaking the law, though media reports said nobody had ever been charged for doing so.
The Times of Malta newspaper reported in May 2021 that nobody had faced criminal charges for getting an abortion or providing the means to terminate a pregnancy in Malta in the past five years.
Three people were investigated for alleged abortions between 2015 and 2020 but were not charged, it said. Since 2000, three women had been convicted, the most recent in 2006, and none of them served time in jail.