Scoring political points

The government is holding consultations with the public on the future use of a piece of rock in Sliema – the ex-Chalet.

Yet, on the extremely important issue of abortion, we are faced with a piece of legislation being rushed through parliament with indecent haste.

The prime minister has indicated that the bill in question will be “tweaked”, thus admitting that, as presented, it has not been thought through and is not good enough. I believe it is terrible.

I will not refer to the glaring issues which have been already pointed out such as the lack of a time limit so that if a baby is killed immediately after birth, this is infanticide, but if killed prior to term, this is permitted. Or the fact that the vague term “health”– physical or mental – can be a sufficient reason to abort a foetus.

I will now bring up another point that I believe the parliamentary secretary for equality and her minister should wake up and notice. There are many instances of women abused and trafficked and forced into prostitution. Now, how many pregnant women will be forced to ask for an abortion by their partner because a pregnancy is inconvenient? Has this possibility even been considered?

Conversely, would the father have a say in whether the foetus is saved? Who decides that the mother’s health is at risk?

Will the law also contemplate a long-term risk like diabetes, which is eminently treatable?

The justice minister boasted in parliament that 165 academics support this law. I will take his word that they were around 165, but is he not aware that more than 450 doctors who are the frontliners in health and not academics in disparate fields have spoken against them? I feel sure that his speech will one day feature prominently in his biography. Or not?

Finally, if our prime minister is so convinced of the appropriateness of this bill, should he not give a free vote? This should not be a political issue to score points over the opposition.

Anthony Azzopardi – San Ġwann

Absolute nonsense

I heard on the news that the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, has decreed that all Russian soldiers falling in battle against the Ukrainians will be immediately cleansed of all their sins and go directly to heaven.

So now, Vladimir Putin’s senseless war of aggression, with Christians slaughtering each other has become a Russian Orthodox Jihad!  That a 21st-century Christian leader can spout such arrant nonsense and still expect to be taken seriously is beyond belief. 

The contrast between this warmongering cleric and the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew, who visited Malta a few weeks ago, could not be more stark.  Kirill has reduced the once great Moscow Patriarchate to a laughing stock, with his bellicose pronouncements. What price Christian unity?

Charles Gauci MD – Sannat