Abortion pill shipments up 14% in 2024, totalling 590
Abortion is illegal in Malta, unless it is carried out by doctors if a woman’s life is at risk
The number of women receiving abortion pills at home through telemedicine services continues to increase, with shipments totalling 590 last year, Doctors for Choice said.
The shipments figures represent a 14% increase over 2023 and continues a years-long trend that has seen demand for abortion pills through the service run by Women on Web and Women Help Women grow significantly annually.
“Criminalising abortion is clearly not a deterrent. Women, and anyone who can get pregnant, should feel safe to seek medical care if they’ve had an abortion,” Isabel Stabile, from Doctors for Choice, said.
Figures for the past eight years show the number of shipments rise from 93 in 2017, to 289 in 2020 and 590 last year.
The real number of women in Malta who obtained an abortion is likely to be significantly higher because the figures do not include those who travel abroad to have an abortion or those who source abortion pills through other means.
Abortion is illegal in Malta, unless it is carried out by doctors if a woman’s life is at risk.
Real number of women in Malta who obtained an abortion is likely to be significantly higher because the figures do not include those who travel abroad to have an abortion or those who source abortion pills through other means- Isabel Stabile, Doctors for Choice
Changes to Malta’s laws came into force in July 2023 in the form of amendments to provisions in the criminal code. This was the first time that Maltese law explicitly allowed doctors to terminate a pregnancy in certain situations.
The changes empower doctors to terminate a pregnancy when a woman’s life is at risk or her health is in “grave jeopardy, which may lead to death”.
In the latter case, the termination must be approved by three doctors and the foetus must not be viable outside the womb. Even when a woman’s life is at risk, a doctor must first determine that the foetus has not reached the period of viability.
Abortions remain illegal in all other circumstances, including rape.
This means that if a woman in Malta wants to carry out an abortion, she can either travel overseas or order pills online. Due to the illegality of abortion, abortion pills are not available in pharmacies.
Women on Web and Women Help Women ship pills
However, the Doctors for Choice website outlines two reputable organisations that ship pills: Women on Web and Women Help Women.
Ordering and possessing the pills is not illegal. However, it is illegal to take the pills if you are pregnant because that would be considered to be an abortion – the termination of a pregnancy.
Problems could arise if a woman who takes the pill faces medical complications and does not seek medical help for fear of getting caught.
It has been over 25 years since a woman was jailed for carrying out an abortion in Malta. In June last year, a woman charged with abortion was given a conditional discharge for three years. Almost a decade earlier, in 2014, a woman received a two-year jail sentence suspended for four years. That same year, a 28-year-old woman was sentenced to 18 months in prison suspended for two years.