Every day, at least one person calls a Maltese helpline set up by pro-choice doctors asking for information on how to carry out a safe abortion, a Brussels event about women’s sexual health was told on Wednesday.
“My colleagues and I receive calls on our abortion doula support service helpline once or twice a day from people seeking information before, during or after an abortion.
"We provide information – something that is not illegal – on how to safely get an abortion in Malta,” gynaecologist Isabelle Stabile told a group of activists and MEPs.
The event, coordinated by Labour MEP Cyrus Engerer, saw the screening of No Woman is an Island (Nexus Productions), and a discussion that included European MEPs, gender equality activist Marceline Naudi, Women’s Rights Foundation director Lara Dimitrijevic and pro-choice doctors Natalie Psaila and Isabelle Stabile.
Stabile told those present that her team was not solely focused on advocating for safe and accessible abortion: “We believe in prevention and ideally we would have as few abortions as we possibly can. That is why access to free contraception and appropriate sex education is important”.
Last month, a woman was found guilty of assaulting Stabile during a peaceful roadside protest in Marsa. On Wednesday, the doctor said that together with her colleagues, she was often at the receiving end of threats.
Still, the daily threats and strong backlash were not going to stop the doctors from doing what they were doing, she added.
Stabile was echoing similar concern by Engerer who earlier told the audience that when in 2021 he was the only Maltese MEP to vote in favour of a report identifying abortion as a human right, he had received so many threats that he was scared to fly back home from Brussels.
'I was scared to fly back home'
“The day after I arrived in Malta I had a meeting in Valletta. I told my colleague I was too scared to walk down Republic Street.
“So I was waiting for him on Zachary Street when I saw a young woman hanging up her phone and approaching me. I braced myself for the worst, but this woman ran to me, and asked me whether I was Cyrus. When I replied in the affirmative, she started crying and thanking me.
"She said that for the first time, she had felt represented. On the way to the meeting, another four other women similarly stopped me to talk to me,” he recalled, as the event discussed the safety of activists.
“If you feel it’s not safe for you, don’t do it. But if you think it’s safe for you, stand up and be counted,” he urged.
Engerer said there could be no equality unless everyone was equal and he did not believe Malta should flaunt its equality label until women, migrants and refugees enjoyed the same rights as the rest of the population.
He said that countries that do not allow safe and legal access to abortion were committing violence against women.
Andorra and Malta are the only European countries that prohibit abortion in all situations.
Last year, a woman charged with abortion at home was given a conditional discharge for three years. Before her case last year, it had been nearly a decade since someone faced criminal charges for getting an abortion or providing the means to terminate a pregnancy in Malta.
In 2014, a 30-year-old woman received two years’ jail sentence suspended for four years. That same year, a 28-year-old woman was sentenced to 18 months, suspended for two years.
It is estimated that some 500 Maltese women purchase abortion pills online every year.
Having an abortion or helping someone get an abortion is punishable by up to three years in prison.
'I helped two Maltese women get an abortion'- Cyrus Engerer
On Wednesday, Engerer said he has helped at least two Maltese women get an abortion – one in Malta and another in the Netherlands.
The PL MEP slammed politicians who represented people in parliament: “I know their views on abortion but they are afraid to speak up."
Referring to the recent legislative changes that will allow doctors to terminate a pregnancy in limited circumstances, Engerer expressed disappointment that despite some hope that the island would finally move away from a total abortion ban, parliamentarians had “backtracked” and approved a watered-down amendment.
Professionals have argued that the amendment that was greenlighted by parliament last year was "regressive", with doctors now needing to wait for a woman’s life to be in jeopardy to take action. Furthermore, it now also takes three specialists to say an infection is life-threatening while in the past, the consultant would discuss the seriousness of the situation with their own team.
Polish MEP Robert Biedron, who participated in the discussion on Wednesday, spoke of a similar ban on abortion in his homeland, where, he said, every pregnancy used to be registered and the authorities would immediately launch an investigation into suspected terminated pregnancies.
Polish law allows abortion to safeguard the life or health of pregnant women or where a pregnancy results from rape or incest.
Biedron lamented that the EU had set standards for everything, ranging from car tyres to bananas, but there were no standards for women’s rights. This was unacceptable, he said.
Danish MEP Karen Melchior and Swedish MEP Carina Ohlsson also participated in the event.