A mother’s sacrifice
The allegation contained in Christopher Barbara’s letter (November 25) that Maltese law sacrifices the life of the mother whenever a pregnancy causes imminent threat to life is not legally correct and amounts to mere scaremongering.
The provisions of our Criminal Code are subject to the general principles of criminal law, including the requirement of a mens rea, or criminal intent, to commit the act proscribed by law.
When a pregnancy endangers the life of the mother, the members of the medical profession are obliged to try and save both the life of the mother and the child; if this is not possible, intervening to save the life of the mother, even if this indirectly causes the termination of the pregnancy, is not a crime.
The intention is not to procure miscarriage and the miscarriage is only the undesired consequence of a medical intervention applied to the mother to save her life (and not to the unborn child). Besides, no provision of the Criminal Code requires the mother to give up her life for her unborn child.
Of course, if the mother voluntarily chooses to do so, as has occasionally happened, that is the greatest form of love but she is not legally or morally obliged to do so. Proof of this is the fact that no mother or member of the medical profession has ever been prosecuted or arraigned in such circumstance.
Tonio Borg – Lija
From the online comments board: PN trailing PL – Times of Malta poll
The Nationalists were conservative since the days of Fortunato Mizzi. So much so that Mizzi’s group was called the Anti-Reformist group.
If a Nationalist is not conservative then he/she is not a true Nationalist. That is why the Partit Negattiv (PN) headed by various kapijiet since 1927 was always a conservative party.
On the contrary, the Labour Party was always a progressive party that created social reforms through the years from which the vast majority gained so much. The Labour Party was always the better party to create a strong economy.
The great election victories with large number of votes were always obtained by the Labour Party.
Ex-PM Joseph Muscat created such a strong economy. Social benefits increased in records. Records that under 25 years of various PN governments were never achieved.
Such facts are a hard and unsweetened pill for any ultra fanatic Nationalist to swallow. But elections and survey results contradict what every ultra fanatic Nationalist may dream of. – Ċensu Muscat
So obvious with the approach PN has adopted. Change the main fossil spokesmen, sons of fathers and abort this old mentality of making gods out of people. Otherwise, you’re all wasting time, especially in this country. Recently, I was listening to Konrad Mizzi’s grilling. He may have done all the wrongs in the world but I was appalled to hear some of the board members’ approach, especially in the supposed highest institution of the country. These are people who should set an example, not act childish. – Martina Bonello
It’s no use trying to minimise the result of this survey because it gives the same result except for a small difference as the other surveys commissioned by MaltaToday and It-Torċa. Although surveys can have some variations between them, they all indicate that the PL will win this election with a big margin of votes. – Aristide Galea
Statistically, PN lost more than 10 consecutive elections, what better proof do you need? But if you’re happy, fine, enjoy your stay in opposition for the next decade or two! – Carmel Debono
Question is, are people really concerned about corruption? The survey albeit a small sample seems to indicate they are not bothered. PN seems to be fighting only on one issue and that is corruption. It needs to reinvent itself to make any headway in the next election or it will remain out of power for a very long time. It needs to come up with policies and I would suggest not incessantly talk about corruption. – Bill Khan