• Abortion will be allowed if woman's life at immedate risk or health in 'grave jeopardy which may lead to her death';
• Terminations can only take place once all other treatments exhausted;
• Decision must be taken by three specialists;
• Interventions can only take place in licensed clinics;
• If the foetus can live outside the womb, woman must give birth; 
• Pro-life coalition endorses changes, pro-choice coalition decries 'betrayal'

Chris Fearne on Friday announced significant changes to a so-called abortion bill that had stoked uproar by anti-abortion campaigners, the church and the opposition.

The government's proposed amendments to the criminal code - that will allow for abortions to be carried out in specific circumstances - had been given a second reading last year.

It had said no offence shall be committed "when the termination of a pregnancy results from a medical intervention aimed at protecting the health of a pregnant woman suffering from a medical complication which may put her life at risk or health in grave jeopardy".

Anti-abortion campaigners had protested the bill, saying the term "grave jeopardy" was too vague while pro-choice campaigners had welcomed it as a positive first step.  

What the new amendments propose

However, Fearne on Friday announced new proposals that he said would add further safeguards, ensuring that an abortion can only take place once all other possible treatments have been exhausted.

The amendments further define “grave jeopardy” as a situation where a mother’s life is in danger.

Further clarity has also been added to the government proposals when it comes to the viability of a pregnancy. The health minister said the law will make it clear that if a baby can live viably outside of the womb, the pregnancy should not be terminated.

Fearne said the law will still allow doctor’s discretion in emergency situations where a mother’s life is in immediate danger. Another tweak will see decisions to terminate a pregnancy being taken by three specialists.

The minister said this is already the established practice today when pregnancies are terminated to save a mother’s life. Fearne said these interventions can only be carried out in licensed hospitals, addressing concerns that abortions could take place in unlicensed clinics.

Malta has among the strictest abortion laws in the world and abortion will remain illegal under all other circumstances including rape, incest and severe foetal abnormalities.

Pro-life relief, pro-choice dismay

A coalition of pro-life activists who had led the charge against the original proposals, Int Tista' Ssalvani, welcomed the updated wording. 

"The amendment as now proposed does not introduce abortion to Malta but will codify the existing life-saving practices currently being applied in Malta, and provide further safeguards for mothers, unborn babies, and doctors," it said in a statement. 

It thanked the government for having listened to its concerns and said the revisions were the direct result of its campaign - endorsed by over 25,000 people - against the original wording. 

However, pro-choice coalition Voice for Choice said the changes were a "betrayal".  Women would end up dead or disabled if the bill were to become law, it warned. 

The government felt the need to introduce the amendments after 38-year-old Andrea Prudente was denied a request for abortion in Malta after suffering the symptoms of a miscarriage.

Doctors had refused to intervene, waiting for her to miscarry naturally, for the baby's heartbeat to stop or "for her to have a life-threatening infection" that would spur them to act, Prudente’s husband later said.

The inclusion of “health in grave jeopardy” has been the main point of contention among the Nationalist Party and other opponents to the bill, who claim that the wording will lead to the legalisation of abortion.

President George Vella last year expressed his hope that these concerns would be ironed out.

The president, who will have to sign off on the eventual law, is known to have raised his own concerns about the proposals, sending the government back to the drawing board.