There’s no fundamental human right to abortion
In her letter ‘Rights-denied women’ (December 8), Isabel Stabile said that she belongs to Doctors for Choice. What choice is she referring to? Her choice is to destroy the life of living human beings in their mother’s womb. That is a bad choice! Stabile must remember that she is a medical doctor to save human lives as much as possible. Promoting abortion contradicts her medical profession.
The photo used with the letter promotes her mistaken agenda and is misplaced. That photo suits the Pro-life Movement. In the photo we read: choice is physical, mental, emotional health care. Yes, when you choose life. When you choose death for the living child in their mother’s womb, choice will be physical, mental and emotional destruction.
Stabile mistakenly wrote: “...in our promotion of fundamental human rights, such as that of abortion in cases of non-viable pregnancy…” There is absolutely no fundamental human right to abortion for any reason whatsoever.
The European Convention of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Lisbon Treaty’s Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child mention only the right to life.
On December 16, 2010, in the case A, B and C vs Ireland, regarding a challenge to the Irish Constitution, which, at that time, prohibited abortion, the European Court of Human Rights (Strasbourg) ruled there is “no human right to abortion”.
These charters and conventions give the right to abortion to no one!
If Stabile is sincerely convinced that there is a woman’s human right to abortion, she can file an application in the Civil Court, First Hall, in its constitutional jurisdiction, to attain this right and if she fails her test make an appeal by an application in the Constitutional Court, and if she is unsuccessful again, make an application, probably as her last resort, to the European Court of Human Rights.
Thus, she will see if her view on the fundamental human right to abortion is real or imaginary.
Joe Zammit – Paola
Giving women a choice
In his letter ‘Ectopic pregnancy: the truth’ (December 10), Klaus Vella Bardon accuses our organisation of being “unjust and dishonest” when we say that abortion in Malta is not legally permissible in cases when the woman’s life is at risk. In his previous letter, ‘Killing of the weak’ (December 8), he personally accused me of lying for stating the same fact.
I will quote the Criminal Code and let readers make up their own mind. “Article 243: Any physician, surgeon, obstetrician, or apothecary, who shall have knowingly prescribed or administered the means whereby the miscarriage is procured, shall, on conviction, be liable to imprisonment for a term from 18 months to four years and to perpetual interdiction from the exercise of his profession.”
Also of note is Article 241(2) that condemns women who have abortions for any reason to a jail term of up to three years. There are absolutely no exceptions to this law and any type of abortion is illegal in Malta. Any doctor who knowingly terminates a pregnancy is liable to imprisonment and loss of his or her licence.
This law means that treatments that directly damage an embryo, like methotrexate, are technically illegal. It also means doctors cannot terminate a pregnancy if the woman’s physical or mental health is at risk, they cannot terminate the pregnancy of a woman with a foetus that will die shortly after birth, they cannot terminate the pregnancy of a woman who has been raped and they cannot terminate the pregnancy of an abused underage girl. This is the reality we are living in, a reality that we are campaigning to change.
As stated by Lesley Regan, former president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, abortion care is an essential area of women’s healthcare. Unfortunately, the law in Malta does not allow doctors to practise in accordance with international standards and norms. There is nothing ethical or patriotic in denying women healthcare and bodily autonomy. It is time to mature as a country and show women some respect by legalising abortion. Let us just hope no woman must die before this happens.
Christopher Barbara – on behalf of Doctors for Choice, St Julian’s
Letters to the editor should be sent to editor@timesofmalta.com. Please include your full name, address and ID card number. The editor may disclose personal information to any person or entity seeking legal action on the basis of a published letter.