Voice for choice rightly condemn the intimidation and deception of women seeking abortion abroad. The correct way to deal with this terribly difficult and emotive situation is through calm and supportive counselling.

The difficulty I have with this movement is the fact that it opens itself up to criticism on a number of grounds. First of all, its name; ‘pro-choice’ is a cynical misnomer. Who speaks for the child? Secondly, the expression ‘reproductive rights’ refers to the right to bear children, not to dispose of the unborn child.

The pro-choice movement in Malta is supported by the British BPAS, whose clinics, in common with most of those run by the NHS, flagrantly ignore the letter of the UK abortion laws by virtually never saying ‘no’ to any request for an abortion. The law itself is pretty prescriptive but its terms are interpreted in most cases in such a ‘wide’ sense that they render it meaningless.

Many clinics in the UK also stock pre-signed approval forms for carrying out abortions, a flagrant breach of a rule designed to prevent hasty decision-making.

Most abortions in the Western world are carried out for ‘social reasons’, frequently to end pregnancies conceived as a result of failure by couples to use adequate contraception. The UK abortion law does not approve of abortion in these situations but is routinely ignored. There are now about 200,000 abortions each year in the UK, well over 90 per cent of which are not on medical grounds; a shocking fact.

We live in an increasingly utilitarian society, in which anything goes as long as it provides a quick and convenient (if not necessarily always easy) solution to a difficult problem. The answer has to be provision of a supportive environment in which to ease suffering not sweep the problem under the carpet by ending life.

Malta’s authorities must surely adopt an ethical approach towards the difficult issue of abortion. Any other way would be to betray their raison d’être.