That someone from a pro-life lobby goes to a school to explain the abomination that is abortion is something that should be normal and encouraged. Instead, in this post-truth world, where everything is relative and subjective, the pro-life lobby is being challenged, criticised and petitioned against for doing what is right.
It has been claimed the presentation by Miriam Sciberras, from Life Network Foundation, was too graphic. Being graphic and, maybe, even shocking should be the purpose of such presentations because what is at stake is the life of the innocent unborn and the message must be driven home.
Dr Sciberras was there to talk about the “gift of life”, on abortion and to explain pro-life options. The headmaster of the school said pro-life values were in line with the school’s ethos and he could not object to something that was positive. The educational authorities said they were evaluating the material used.
An online petition called on the Education Ministry to ensure “objective sex education in Malta”, saying the “anti-abortion group” had presented a one-sided view of “sex, reproduction and human life”. When this petition emerged, the whole matter began to sound like a continuation to the debate on the morning-after pill, with abortion now thrown in.
The Women’s Rights Foundation, which spearheaded the campaign on the emergency contraception, said it was preoccupied that pro-life organisations were being invited to schools to teach adolescents on abortion and reproduction. It said: “Abortion is a complex moral issue and cannot be addressed from a black or white perspective… students should be presented with objective medical facts, diverse legal approaches and different philosophical arguments that are not limited to one dogma.”
The foundation has repeatedly said it does not have a stand on abortion but appears keen to debate it ‘objectively’ in schools.
The morning-after pill has been described by critics as ‘abortion by the backdoor’ with St James Hospital chairman, Josie Muscat, saying that, after the introduction of divorce and the morning-after pill, abortion is well and truly on the way.
The battle appears set to start in the classroom, putting the Education Minister in quite a quandary. The Gift of Life lobby has pertinently pointed out that, in 2005, he had signed a petition saying the right to life begins at conception.
The Education Ministry was in a similar situation when the gay lobby presented books showing ‘alternative family lifestyles’ for distribution in government school libraries. Those books have ostensibly been withheld but will pro-life campaigners now be similarly stopped from putting out their essential anti-abortion message because ultra-liberals want to present the ‘whole picture’ to adolescents, whatever that means. Abortion is illegal, it is wrong and it is immoral.
Sadly, is has been a slow but gradual development to reach this point. First to go was the family model of mother and father through the Civil Unions Act that introduced gay marriage with adoption rights through the backdoor. Other government initiatives and laws, clearly intended to please the gay lobby under the guise of equality, were followed by the heated debate on the morning-after pill. Terms and phrases used by the prochoice, pro-abortion lobbies began to be used liberally by those in favour of the emergency contraception.
Changing society values, with the onslaught of liberal thought emphasising individual choice that makes everything relative and amoral, are slowly easing the way for a debate on abortion.
Abortion must be fiercely opposed but the battlefield is not a classroom.