Doctors already do all they can to save both mothers and babies and legal amendments being pushed by the government will do nothing to help them, a PN MP whose wife lost a late-term pregnancy has argued.
Ivan Castillo shared a personal story of a difficult moment in his personal life as he spoke against plans to alter abortion-related provisions in the criminal code.
The PN MP recalled how he and his wife had lost a baby when his wife was seven months pregnant.
“One minute the ultrasound technician was joking with us, the next he went deadly serious and sent us straight to the hospital,” Castillo said.
“The doctors and nurses did everything they could to save both my wife and my child. Unfortunately, our child did not survive and after one ordeal my wife had to go through the martyrdom of giving birth to our dead son.”
“There were no tears of joy that day, only sadness and loss.”
The legal amendment proposed by the government would allow a pregnancy to be terminated if the mother’s life is at risk or her health is in grave danger.
The Nationalist Party has declared its opposition to the amendment, saying that it is a backdoor to introduce abortion on demand.
Speaking in parliament, Castillo said that it is precisely because he trusts doctors to make the correct medical decision that he is opposing the amendment.
“This amendment is open-ended and sheds doubt on what decisions should be taken,” he said.
Couples who suffer miscarriages need support and assurance that they will receive the best care possible and not to have the waters muddied by immediately putting the option of aborting the pregnancy on the table, Castillo argued.
“I shared my experience because I believe that every pregnancy has its own unique difficulties, but the solution is not the one the government is proposing.”
“When we speak about these circumstances, we rarely speak of the aftermath, of the pain I feel when I see a child the age my son would have been,” he continued.
“We should be doing everything to make sure that babies survive and to give the men and women who go through this experience hope so that no one has to feel the pain that my wife and I feel.”
He encouraged the government to consider proposals to the amendment made by a group of academics.
The parliamentary debate is expected to continue on Tuesday.
On Sunday, thousands of anti-abortion protestors turned up in Valletta to voice their opposition to the amendments.
Labour MPs have reportedly been told that the amendment is expected to be tweaked when it passes to an upcoming technical phase as it continues to make its way through parliament.