Seemingly out of left field, Marlene Farrugia’s proposal to decriminalise abortion was hailed as historic by women’s rights activists but drew the ire of the anti-abortion camp.
On Wednesday the independent MP tabled draft legislation to decriminalise abortion, a first for Malta.
But the bill has a long way to go before the possibility of a vote in the House of Representatives can come to fruition.
Typically, most business before parliament comes from the executive. Any bill presented to parliament by an MP who does not form part of the cabinet is a private member’s bill.
It is not yet known whether Farrugia’s will make it to a plenary session, as it must first be put on parliament’s agenda.
It is the House Business Committee that decides what goes on the agenda. The committee has five members: Chris Fearne, Edward Zammit Lewis and Glenn Bedingfield from the government side, and David Agius and Robert Cutajar from the opposition.
Bill requires backing of one of bigger parties
The bill would require the backing of at least one of the bigger parties to make it onto the agenda and be discussed in plenary.
Once a month, the committee has what is called Opposition Day, where the party in opposition is allowed to set the agenda.
While Farrugia initially ran on the PN-PD ticket in 2017, she no longer forms part of the PD, the Democratic Party, which has since merged with Alternattiva Demokratika to become ADPD.
So it remains to be seen whether the private member’s bill could technically count as the business of the opposition.
The Labour Party has yet to react to news of the bill, saying that the issue is being discussed internally, while Opposition leader Bernard Grech has said that the PN can never back the decriminalisation of abortion.
Farrugia proposes to repeal Article 241(1) of the Criminal Code, which prohibits the ‘procuring of a miscarriage’ and carries a prison term of up to three years, and Article 242 which holds anyone assisting the abortion to punishment for wilful homicide or wilful bodily harm.
She wants these articles to be replaced by provision imposing 10 years in prison for anyone who carries out a forced or non-consensual abortion.
In effect, this would not regulate a safe and legal method for terminating a pregnancy in Malta but would refrain from imposing punishment on those who seek abortions through illicit means.
While prosecutions for women who seek abortions are rare, the offence still carries a prison sentence anywhere from 18 months to three years.