Godfrey Farrugia. Photo: Jonathan Borg

The Democratic Party welcomed yesterday the government’s clarification that a Bill intended to fight domestic violence would not decriminalise abortion under any circumstances.

Godfrey Farrugia, one of the PD’s two members of Parliament, said the Attorney General should nevertheless draft an opinion to confirm the government’s interpretation of the proposed law.

The PD raised concerns on Tuesday over the Gender-based Violence and Domestic Violence Bill tabled by Equality Minister Helena Dalli last October, which is now in its second reading. It aims to fully integrate and implement the provisions of the Istanbul Convention in Maltese law and recast the 2006 Domestic Violence Act into new legislation.

Concerns centred on Article 39 of the convention, incorporated as one of the schedules attached to the Bill. It requires States to ensure that “performing an abortion on a woman without her prior and informed consent” would constitute a crime.

The Equality Ministry immediately denied the provision would legalise abortion in cases where there was prior and informed consent. It accused the PD of peddling “skewed insinuations” originating from “fringe groups”.

It is not a question of balancing rights as in an equation

Speaking to the Times of Malta yesterday, Dr Farrugia welcomed the clarification: “A proper and correct interpretation of Article 39 is that for those jurisdictions where abortion is allowed, it shall be a criminal offence for a woman to be forced to perform an abortion,” he said.

“Those jurisdictions which do not allow abortion are already in line with this provision. Article 39 does not imply that signatory States have to introduce abortion. The fact that the government is not proposing any amendment to article 241 of the Criminal Code confirms this interpretation.”

He insisted that Parliament should include the unborn child as part of the family unit, as was the case in the previous Domestic Violence Act. That law, which referred to the unborn as “a member of the household” to be protected from any type of violence, will be repealed by the new Act. “In our legislation, the unborn child is a person, and the best interest of the child is applied to minors, and this interest is above the interests of other persons, including their parents. This means that the rights of the born or unborn child supersede those of their parents,” he said.

“It also implies that for a pregnant woman there are two sets of rights: hers and those of the unborn child. It is not a question of balancing rights as in an equation; those of the unborn child in Maltese law are absolute, as our legal system is not centred on the mother, with the embryo and foetus treated as part of.”