Alex Borg signals softer penalty on abortion while keeping ban

Nationalist Party leader Alex Borg said he would be prepared to remove prison as a punishment for abortion if elected prime minister, while insisting the practice would remain illegal.

Borg was speaking after a woman was handed a suspended sentence when she was found guilty of having an abortion.

“In cases of abortion, I do not believe a woman should go to prison. But that does not mean it should be used by the government to introduce abortion in our country,” he said.

“Still, our stand on abortion remains consistent: we are in favour of life from conception to death. That is in our party statute, it is part of our values and of the values that I hold.”

Asked by Times of Malta if that meant changing the law to remove the possibility of imprisonment, Borg said: “If needed but, of course, there are parliamentary procedures so we would need to discuss it in parliament. But I have been clear on this issue.”

Last month Borg said decisions on whether a woman is jailed for carrying out an abortion should be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

Under the criminal code, a woman can face a jail term of up to three years if found guilty of having an abortion.

Despite this law, no woman has gone to prison for having an abortion in the last 25 years.

Between 2015 and 2020, no person faced criminal charges for having an abortion or providing the means to terminate a pregnancy.

However, prosecutions have restarted in recent years. In 2023, a woman charged with abortion was given a conditional discharge for three years. Last year, another woman was given a harsher sentence: a suspended prison term.

And again, last week, a woman was handed an 18-month prison term, suspended for three years, after being found guilty of having an abortion.

Prime Minister Robert Abela condemned the judgment, saying that no woman should be given a prison sentence, whether suspended or effective.

He said the cabinet was willing to reduce the woman’s sentence but said he did not intend to change the law.

Abortion is illegal in Malta under all circumstances except when the pregnant woman has a complication that may lead to death.