Former President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca has warned that plans to amend Malta's abortion laws are "damaging" the Labour Party.
The former Labour minister said she has been contacted with people from the party who are "extremely worried" about the proposed changes.
Coleiro Preca is a member of the pro-life coalition that is campaigning against the amendment to the criminal code.
In November, the government introduced a bill that would allow doctors to terminate a pregnancy if a woman develops a condition that puts her life at risk or her health in grave jeopardy.
It followed the case of Andrea Prudente, a US tourist who had to be medically evacuated from Malta after doctors refused to carry out an abortion when she developed ruptured membranes at 15 weeks.
In an interview with Life Network Foundation on Facebook, Coleiro Preca said the amendment goes against the social, ethical and moral order of the country.
“Our population has always cherished the value of life,” she said.
She said the issue was not political as it transcends any one party or religion and "at the end of the day, we are talking about the murder of innocent babies.”
Coleiro Preca, who was president between 2014 and 2019, said the amendment was having an impact on her party.
“I am sorry to see that this amendment is damaging the Labour Party as I meet with many party members… who are extremely worried and are definitively against it.
“This worries me,” the ex-president said, claiming her concerns are only amplified when party members tell her that the PL “can forget about us” if the amendment is to go through.
Many people who hold the value of life never believed that the party would be pushing for such changes after the PL’s previous assurances that they are against the introduction of abortion to Maltese law, she said.
She also expressed her agreement at the amendment's intentions to protect a mother’s life when it is at risk during the course of a pregnancy.
“I want to be certain that a pregnant woman whose life is at risk is given everything she needs to avoid the loss of her life, even if it, unfortunately, means losing the baby.”
Yet, when it concerns the health of the mother, it is unacceptable that the loss of the unborn child’s life is the solution when there are medical alternatives, especially when we live in a country that can practically do medical “miracles,” she said.
“I have always believed that we should listen and pay attention to children. So how can I, as a defendant of children’s rights, ever accept the killing of a baby in the womb without ever giving them a chance”.
The government is currently holding talks with different groups and has said it will make some changes to the amendment that would clarify the wording.
Health Minister Chris Fearne has said it would be revised to clarify that a foetus "must be born" if it is viable and to "minimise the possibility of abuse" by doctors involved in termination.
The bill cleared parliament's second reading stage in December and must now be discussed - and potentially altered - within a parliamentary committee before being presented to all MPs for a third and final vote.