President George Vella is prepared to cancel scheduled overseas trips in the coming weeks if they coincide with the parliamentary vote on the abortion amendment, sources told Times of Malta.

The decision effectively dismisses rumours that the president intends to repeat the IVF vote controversy when he went abroad to avoid signing the law.

Sources said Vella intends to sign the bill if he feels it has been sufficiently tweaked by MPs, or else resign if he feels it has essentially remained unchanged. Such a resignation would be unprecedented in Malta’s history.

One upcoming major trip is a three-week visit to Australia in February. As is tradition with previous presidents, Vella is scheduled to visit Maltese emigrants and their families in a tour of Australian cities, towns and Maltese clubs.

Last November, Times of Malta reported that Vella is not comfortable with the government’s proposed amendment and is prepared to resign if MPs approve the bill in its original wording.

But the bill is not a done deal yet. It will start to be discussed at committee stage when parliament reconvenes after the Christmas recess. At this stage MPs will meticulously debate every detail of its wording and Labour MPs have reportedly been told that the amendment is expected to be tweaked at this stage.

It is understood that the president is mainly concerned the proposed change would allow for the termination of a pregnancy when a woman’s health, rather than her life, is deemed to be at risk.

It is not yet clear when a final vote on the law will be taken because the committee stage could technically, although unlikely, take months.

Multiple sources confirmed the president would be comfortable signing a more restricted version of the law, in which case no trips will be cancelled. In that case, he would not resign and he would be able to see through his full term, until April 2024.

But if the substance of the amendment remains as it is now, he would probably resign, in which case the rest of his engagements, including overseas trips, will automatically be dropped.

Vella landed in hot water last July, when a law allowing doctors to perform genetic testing on IVF embryos passed in parliament.

Back then, he flew to Birmingham, essentially avoiding signing the law, which he was also reportedly uncomfortable with.

The law was signed by his stand-in, acting president Frank Bezzina.

That episode fuelled speculation that Vella might opt to be out of the country again when the abortion amendment passes in parliament.

But that will not be the case this time round, several sources insisted.

Questions sent to the Office of the President remained unanswered.

Despite having vowed multiple times to resign if any form of abortion is introduced, Vella has so far refused to publicly state his position on the ongoing debate. He frequently tells reporters it is not within his remit as president to publicly pronounce himself on ongoing parliamentary discussions.

But in his Republic Day speech he did break with tradition to raise the issue, saying he hopes that “all the points” are addressed before the amendment is signed into law.

The government is proposing a legal amendment that would allow a pregnancy to be terminated if the mother’s life is at risk or her health is in grave danger.

The proposal sparked a national debate, with critics saying the government is trying to introduce abortion by stealth and proponents saying the changes are needed to ensure legal certainty for doctors and mothers. 

But the prime minister said earlier this month that the government is willing to introduce amendments to ensure that the concept of allowing abortion when a woman’s health is in grave danger is not abused.