A United Nations committee has recommended the decriminalisation of abortion “in all circumstances”, urging the government to ensure adolescent girls have “access to safe abortion and post-abortion care services”.
The Committee on the Rights of the Child, tasked with monitoring the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child made its recommendation in a report on Malta’s progress in this area.
A Health Ministry spokeswoman said: “The UN report is noted. Malta’s position remains unchanged.”
The government has been insisting it does not have a mandate to change abortion laws and says the right to life is an inherent right of every human being, including the unborn child, from conception.
Malta has the strictest anti-abortion laws in the world.
Women who willingly procure an abortion are liable to a prison term ranging from 18 months to three years.
In a section dealing with adolescent health, the report noted that “while recognising the State party’s efforts to provide guidance, support and counselling services to pregnant girls, the committee notes with concern that abortion remains a criminal offence under the Criminal Code with no exception, including in cases when the pregnant girl’s life or health is at risk or when the pregnancy is a result of a criminal act such as rape or incest”.
The UN committee recommends the development and implementation of a comprehensive sexual and reproductive health policy for adolescents. This, it adds, would ensure that sexual and reproductive health education is part of the mandatory school curriculum and targeted at both adolescent girls and boys, with special attention on preventing early pregnancy and sexually-transmitted infections.
It also proposes ensuring that adequate sexual and reproductive health services are available for adolescents, in particular access to modern contraception methods.
Finally, it recommends decriminalising abortion in all circumstances and ensure access to safe abortion and post-abortion care services for adolescent girls, ensuring their views are always heard and given due consideration as part of the decision-making process.
The abortion debate has been gaining momentum on a national level over the past months and both pro- and anti-abortion lobby groups were formed.
A group of 670 doctors joined forces earlier this month to form Doctors for Life, declaring their stand against abortion and insisting that life starts from conception and that it should be given the opportunity to develop.
We hope that our local decision-makers treat this issue seriously
A pro-choice lobby called Doctors for Choice, represented by medical professionals, most of whom remain anonymous, favours introducing safe abortion on the island.
Doctors for Choice Malta co-founder Alexander Clayman said the report echoed the lobby group’s mission statement in recommending comprehensive sex education, accessibility to contraception, decriminalisation of abortion and provision of safe abortion services for adolescent females.
Since, as the UN report correctly noted, abortion in Malta was a criminal offence without exception, there was “no legal mechanism whereby a doctor can legally perform an abortion on a child in Malta if her life is threatened, regardless of purported ethical loopholes such as ‘double-effect’... as well as causing unimaginable pressure on a child’s body, mind and life development, underage pregnancy is very often the product of rape.
“It is reassuring to note that the UN is in agreement with Doctors for Choice and we hope that our local decision-makers treat this issue seriously and enact swift changes that will safeguard Malta’s children,” Dr Clayman said.
A number of NGOs joined forces in March to form the first Maltese pro-choice coalition, Voice for Choice, that is campaigning for the decriminalisation of abortion and advocating for laws ensuring that the health of pregnant people is protected in line with international human rights standards through proper abortion care.
Voice for Choice is made up of the Women’s Rights Foundation, Men Against Violence, Moviment Graffitti, the Malta Humanist Association, Integra Foundation, Aditus foundation and individual co-founders Francesca Fenech Conti, Jelena Bezzina and Liza Caruana-Finkel.