Independent MP Godfrey Farrugia is calling on Parliament’s health committee, of which he is a member to put for debate on the committee’s agenda “Women’s Health Care: Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights”.

On Wednesday, Farrugia seconded a private member’s motion presented by independent candidate Marlene Farrugia, who also happens to be his partner, calling for the decriminalisation of abortion.

Farrugia (Marlene) said about the bill that its aim was to ensure that no woman is penalised for trying to safeguard their own health and that no member of the medical professional faced criminal action for offering such medical assistance. 

She said the right to life would only be protected by ensuring women are safe and have access to all the necessary services.

Both the Labour and Nationalist parties have come out against the bill, the former arguing that it choked debate, the latter that it believed in life from conception till death.

ADPD, the Green Party, which is not represented in Parliament, said it is in favour of decriminalising abortion for any women involved, but not for medical professionals who assist in the procedure.

It added it wanted abortion legalised when a woman’s life is in danger, when a pregnancy is the result of violence, and when a pregnancy is not viable. 

In a letter to committee chairman Sylvio Grixti, Farrugia (Godfrey) wrote that quality health care and accessibility in real-time, backed by the necessary resources and supported by patients’ rights, is one of the objectives of a holistic patient-centric health care delivery system.

He called on the chairman’s cooperation for the topic to be debated.