Prof Mark Brincat believes setting up Parliamentary committee for MAP is ‘the oldest trick in the political game’

Director of the Health Department’s Maternity Services Professor Mark Brincat believes that setting up parliamentary committees in order to address the morning-after pill issue is the “oldest trick in the political game”. He also accuses legislators of procrastinating over ad- dressing an issue that has the potential to help women in Malta plan their futures better.

Prof. Brincat, who is in favour of the morning-after pill on the grounds that there is no evidence of the emergency contraception’s abortive effects, posted the following comments on social media a few days ago following a heated debate on the issue during a Parliamentary committee meeting last week.

“Oral contraception has been studied for 60 years and over. This medication has changed millions of women’s lives for the better. This is nothing other than procrastination from taking a decision and an attempt to reinvent the wheel. Women’s lives have been saved, families’ living conditions improved, healthier children through smaller manageable families. No sane nation would use this pathetic excuse to make the easy use of contraception less available for its women. That this discussion is happening in an EU state in 2016 is a disgrace. That there are even women attempting to cast doubt on such a game-changer in women’s health and the key that opened doors to so many women’s rights is shameful.

“If you want to block a decision when you have no reason to, set up a committee, then another. [It’s the] oldest trick in the political game.”

During his remarks at the Parliamentary committee meeting, Prof. Brincat said that this debate is happening 30 years too late.

“We cannot possibly bring up the argument of interfering with nature because, by that logic, then every single medical intervention is an interference with nature,” he said.

“There are millions upon millions of unwanted pregnancies every year, half of which end in some form of induced abortion which, in extreme cases, can even lead to the death of the women involved,” he said during the debate. The Professor went on to explain that these pills have the same potential negative effects as any other medicine we all take, but nobody speaks about the benefits of having such a medicine available.

He said it was a shame that when experts independently reach a conclusion in favour of the MAP, they are criticised as being biased. The truth of the matter is, however, that there is no scientific reason why the MAP should not be distributed.

Progesterone, which is the hormone contained in the pill, has absolutely no effect on pregnancy if it is taken after a pregnancy has already begun, he said. It only works before ovulation and the egg is not released, therefore it is scientifically incorrect to say that it interferes with a pregnancy in any way: there is no pregnancy to interfere with.

We cannot possibly bring up the argument of interfering with nature because, by that logic, then every single medical intervention is an interference with nature