Women who have had an abortion experience are being invited to tell their story through a Facebook group, in an attempt to break possibly Malta's biggest taboo.
The page 'Break The Taboo Malta' has been set up to provide a collection of Maltese women's abortion stories, which never make it to the public.
Along with Honduras, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Vatican City, Malta has the strictest abortion laws in the world with abortion banned under any circumstances.
It has been a year since comments by the former human rights commissioner whipped up a storm when Nils Muižnieks said he had been “taken aback” about the lack of public debate on abortion and went on to call for a law reform.
Soon after, a report by the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe said that highly restrictive laws that prohibit abortion – such as in Malta – had severe and harmful implications on women’s health and well-being.
The debate slowly opened up, spurred in part by public calls for its legalisation in a position paper by the Women’s Rights Foundation. The issue also hit the local theatre scene, with a play depicting the real experiences of Maltese people from both sides of the debate.
Read: Women's reproductive health is a matter for their own conscience
The Facebook page was set up weeks before that theatre production, but the administrators felt they needed to promote it following the launch of the play.
“The play displayed a couple of stories of women who have had an abortion but there are many other women who have been through similar experiences and we wanted to give them a safe space to share their stories,” they told Times of Malta.
They deserve a safe space to share their journey, their reasons, and to be heard rather than stigmatised
The administrators said they prefer to remain anonymous as the page is about the women who went through an abortion, and not about them.
Asked who was behind the page, the administrators said it was not about who created it but more about the women who were coming forward to share their stories.
"There are many misconceptions about why a woman decides, for her own personal reasons, to have an abortion. That is why the page came about - for the women to know that they are not alone.
"They deserve a safe space to share their journey, their reasons, and to be heard rather than stigmatised."
On their page, the administrators note that Malta has long been a place where abortion is seen as murder, and where pro-choice women who have never had an abortion are branded murderers.
Not one Maltese woman has ever publicly and openly had the courage to show her face and say she had an abortion, for fear of ending up in prison.
"This goes a long way to describe the type of society we still live in despite the fact it's 2018 not 1918, and despite Malta being part of the EU.
"Despite Malta being at the forefront of LGBTIQ rights, sexual and reproductive health rights for women are sadly missing."
The stories shared: 
"When I went for my scan I was found to have a huge cancerous fibroid and large uterus. As the baby was growing so was the cancer. I read women saying that they would rather die than abort. My thoughts were with my two other children rather than with the foetus… I had no regrets or remorse but I was never able to discuss it with my family in Malta or the UK.”
"… soon after the beatings began. I got the courage to walk out with a six-month-old… A few months later he came back full of apologies and wanting to make our little family work. Fast forward four months and I was unconscious on the bathroom floor. That’s when I got out again - vowing this would definitely be the last time. But then I discovered I was pregnant again. How could I bring another human being into my uncertainty?”