Updated 11am with ADPD comments
Bernard Grech is a “failed politician” whose “barbaric” speech mocking Andrea Prudente has led public debate into the gutter, Moviment Graffitti said on Saturday as it called for the Opposition leader to resign.
In a withering statement that lashed Nationalist Party MPs who endorsed Grech’s words, Graffitti said the PN should issue a public apology to Prudente and refocus on its “insignificance in shaping public discourse” as a political party.
It also endorsed legal changes proposed by the government, that would ensure doctors and pregnant women would be shielded from prosecution when a pregnancy is terminated because a woman’s life or health is in “grave jeopardy.”
The proposal, Graffitti argued, is the bare minimum and should only be considered the first step to ensure adequate access to reproductive healthcare.
“Termination of a pregnancy when health is at risk is considered basic healthcare and a basic human right, as held by international medical standards,” it said.
The bulk of Graffitti’s statement focused on the PN and its leader’s criticism of the woman whose plight has sparked a national debate about abortion.
Grech used a parliamentary speech on Wednesday evening to deride Prudente, a US woman who was refused an abortion in Malta when her pregnancy became non-viable.
Her case has prompted lawmakers to propose changes to the law to loosen abortion restrictions.
Grech appeared to question Prudente’s motive for flying to Malta, mocked her surname and said local doctors who refused to terminate her pregnancy had been “more prudent” than her.
The speech, given as PN MPs thumped their desks in approval behind him, prompted a backlash from women’s rights activists. Grech has yet to address the criticism.
Graffitti said it was aghast at the PN leader’s choice of words.
“This barbaric disparaging of a woman mourning a wanted pregnancy and a woman at her weakest, signals an unprecedented ethical collapse in public discourse,” it said. “We therefore hold the leader of the PN Opposition Bernard Grech entirely responsible for encouraging public descent into an aggressive and violent amoralism.”
It went on to blast the PN as a “conservative party shaped entirely by patriarchal blindspots” that was “afraid of giving up the future of Malta and Gozo to women”.
“It deals with its own internal fears, confusions and collapse by resorting to outright public hostility against women,” the NGO said.
'Metsola's silence is failing women'
It also targeted PN MEP Roberta Metsola for her silence on the issue. Metsola, who serves as president of the European Parliament, has only said that her views are aligned with the European Parliament’s.
But in remaining silent, Graffitti argued, Metsola was failing to use her position of power “to shield the women of Malta and Gozo from the public oppression, humiliation and shaming inflicted upon them by her colleagues in the PN.”
Any PN MPs who did not take a position against Grech’s on the issue “are failed politicians like him,” Graffitti said as it called for the PN to apologise and Grech to step aside as party leader.
ADPD: Grech repeating far-right tropes
The PN leader also came in for criticism from the Greens, who said his speech in parliament "speaks volumes about his attitude towards women".
"It reveals his general attitude towards women as an inferior gender that are not capable of taking their own decisions, even in serious matters that arise from medical problems during their pregnancy," the ADPD said.
Grech was confusing termination of non-viable pregnancies due to risks to the mother's health with premature delivery, the party said.
"He has stooped low by using the false far-right American trope of abortion ‘a day before’ delivery. This is a common fundamentalist device to demonize the decisions that women need to take in conjunction with the medical professionals when faced with very difficult situations," ADPD chair Carmel Cacopardo said.
The ADPD, which last week endorsed the government's plans to change the law, also flagged what it said was the hypocrisy of some politicians, who attended vigils about violence against women but then ridicule them when in difficult medical situations.
"Ethical pluralism is with us now, whether the fundamentalists agree or not," the ADPD said.