{"id":262499,"date":"2022-02-11T06:41:27","date_gmt":"2022-02-11T12:41:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=262499"},"modified":"2022-02-10T14:20:28","modified_gmt":"2022-02-10T20:20:28","slug":"maltas-metsola-flip-flops-abortion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/maltas-metsola-flip-flops-abortion\/","title":{"rendered":"Pro-life Malta’s Metsola flip-flops on abortion, earns praise of pro-abortion groups"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

The <\/span>recently-elected<\/span><\/a> president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, has a fairly solid pro-life voting <\/span>record<\/span><\/a> in her native Malta, one of the few remaining nations in which abortion is illegal in all circumstances. However, one of her first actions after ascending to the presidency was to functionally disavow that record by <\/span>committing to sign<\/span><\/a> the <\/span>Simone Veil Pact<\/span><\/a>, which includes the guarantee of so-called \u201csexual and reproductive health rights\u201d\u2014 a euphemism for the legal availability of contraception and abortion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Simone Veil Pact was introduced by France, which legalized abortion up to 12 weeks in 1975 under the similarly named <\/span>Veil Law<\/span><\/a>. The namesake of both measures, <\/span>Simone Veil<\/span><\/a>, was an abortion proponent, the health minister of France, and the first female president of the European Parliament.<\/span><\/p>\n

Metsola was <\/span>elected<\/span><\/a> to her current position on January 11; on January 19, she <\/span>stated<\/span><\/a> that she would sign the Simone Veil Pact. \u201cThis parliament has always been clear and unambiguous on the issue of sexual and reproductive health rights. \u2026 They will be my positions and I will promote them,\u201d she <\/span>said<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

It is not the first time Metsola has behaved schizophrenically on the issue of abortion \u2013 last year, she <\/span>supported<\/span><\/a> an EU resolution condemning a Polish <\/span>law<\/span><\/a> that established a near-total abortion ban. \u201cI promoted [the resolution] and I presented it,\u201d she <\/span>said<\/span><\/a>. \u201cThat is exactly what I will do with all the positions \u2026 taken in all this area in all the member states. My position is that of the European Parliament. And \u2026 on all sexual and reproductive health rights, it has been unambiguous, it has repeatedly called for these rights to be better protected.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Abortion advocates were quick to cheer Metsola\u2019s announcement, which even they <\/span>described<\/span><\/a> as a \u201cvolte-face.\u201d Doctors for Choice member Isabel Stabile <\/span>claimed<\/span><\/a>: \u201cRegardless of one\u2019s personal views on these topics, the scientific evidence is clear that access to contraception and safe abortion keeps women and girls safe and are essential in any healthcare system.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Christine Caesar from <\/span>Moviment Graffitti<\/span><\/a>, a left-wing Maltese organization which includes legalizing abortion among its agenda items, <\/span>said<\/span><\/a>: \u201cWe cannot have a just and equal society without these fundamental principles. We are eagerly awaiting the implementation of this Pact at a national level so that women in Malta can enjoy the same sexual and reproductive rights as women in other European countries do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Andrea Dibben, a board member of the Maltese <\/span>Women\u2019s Rights Foundation<\/span><\/a>, which describes itself as \u201cpro-choice and non-judgemental\u201d (sic) stated: \u201cMetsola is known for her conservative politics, but there is no doubt that she is committed to gender equality. She has shown leadership and courage in adopting the Parliament\u2019s direction on sexual and reproductive rights without reservation, and her pledge to sign the Simone Veil Pact solidifies this commitment.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Maltese <\/span>Life Network Foundation<\/span><\/a>, on the other hand, decried Metsola\u2019s flip-flop, posting on <\/span>Facebook<\/span><\/a>: \u201cDisgraceful! Dear Roberta Metsola, we remind you that you also represent the rights of all the baby girls in the womb!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLike\u201d Live Action News on Facebook<\/a> for more pro-life news and commentary!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The recently-elected president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, has a fairly solid pro-life voting record in her native Malta, one of the few remaining nations in which abortion is illegal in all circumstances. However, one of her first actions after ascending to the presidency was to functionally disavow that record by committing to sign […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":788,"featured_media":262524,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[5,3473,11],"tags":[15732,14812,1275,1500,15734,10221,15733,10291,15317,15735],"yoast_head":"\nPro-life Malta's Metsola flip-flops on abortion, earns praise of pro-abortion groups<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One of Metsola's first actions was to functionally disavow her pro-life record by committing to sign a pact supporting "reproductive rights."\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/maltas-metsola-flip-flops-abortion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pro-life Malta's Metsola flip-flops on abortion, earns praise of pro-abortion groups\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One of Metsola's first actions was to functionally disavow her pro-life record by committing to sign a pact supporting "reproductive rights."\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/maltas-metsola-flip-flops-abortion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-02-11T12:41:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-10T20:20:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/GettyImages-1238293516-roberta-metsola-malta-eu.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bettina di Fiore\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bettina di Fiore\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/maltas-metsola-flip-flops-abortion\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/maltas-metsola-flip-flops-abortion\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bettina di Fiore\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/189f8a60121ec1992ae74917a7134f0f\"},\"headline\":\"Pro-life Malta’s Metsola flip-flops on abortion, earns praise of pro-abortion groups\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-11T12:41:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-10T20:20:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/maltas-metsola-flip-flops-abortion\/\"},\"wordCount\":520,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Christine Caesar\",\"Doctors for Choice\",\"EU\",\"European Union\",\"Isabel Stabile\",\"Malta\",\"Movement Graffitti\",\"Parliament\",\"Roberta Metsola\",\"Simone Veil Pact\"],\"articleSection\":[\"International\",\"Newsbreak\",\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/maltas-metsola-flip-flops-abortion\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/maltas-metsola-flip-flops-abortion\/\",\"name\":\"Pro-life Malta's Metsola flip-flops on abortion, earns praise of pro-abortion groups\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-11T12:41:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-10T20:20:28+00:00\",\"description\":\"One of Metsola's first actions was to functionally disavow her pro-life record by committing to sign a pact supporting \\\"reproductive rights.\\\"\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/maltas-metsola-flip-flops-abortion\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/maltas-metsola-flip-flops-abortion\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/maltas-metsola-flip-flops-abortion\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Pro-life Malta’s Metsola flip-flops on abortion, earns praise of pro-abortion groups\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Live Action News\",\"description\":\"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Live Action\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"width\":701,\"height\":710,\"caption\":\"Live Action\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/189f8a60121ec1992ae74917a7134f0f\",\"name\":\"Bettina di Fiore\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3e31061bd16493d73f3e184e7dfec4d3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3e31061bd16493d73f3e184e7dfec4d3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Bettina di Fiore\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/bettina-di-fiore\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Pro-life Malta's Metsola flip-flops on abortion, earns praise of pro-abortion groups","description":"One of Metsola's first actions was to functionally disavow her pro-life record by committing to sign a pact supporting \"reproductive rights.\"","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/maltas-metsola-flip-flops-abortion\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Pro-life Malta's Metsola flip-flops on abortion, earns praise of pro-abortion groups","og_description":"One of Metsola's first actions was to functionally disavow her pro-life record by committing to sign a pact supporting \"reproductive rights.\"","og_url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/maltas-metsola-flip-flops-abortion\/","og_site_name":"Live Action News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","article_published_time":"2022-02-11T12:41:27+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-02-10T20:20:28+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":650,"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/GettyImages-1238293516-roberta-metsola-malta-eu.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Bettina di Fiore","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@liveaction","twitter_site":"@liveaction","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bettina di Fiore","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/maltas-metsola-flip-flops-abortion\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/maltas-metsola-flip-flops-abortion\/"},"author":{"name":"Bettina di Fiore","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/189f8a60121ec1992ae74917a7134f0f"},"headline":"Pro-life Malta’s Metsola flip-flops on abortion, earns praise of pro-abortion groups","datePublished":"2022-02-11T12:41:27+00:00","dateModified":"2022-02-10T20:20:28+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/maltas-metsola-flip-flops-abortion\/"},"wordCount":520,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"keywords":["Christine Caesar","Doctors for Choice","EU","European Union","Isabel Stabile","Malta","Movement Graffitti","Parliament","Roberta Metsola","Simone Veil Pact"],"articleSection":["International","Newsbreak","Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/maltas-metsola-flip-flops-abortion\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/maltas-metsola-flip-flops-abortion\/","name":"Pro-life Malta's Metsola flip-flops on abortion, earns praise of pro-abortion groups","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-02-11T12:41:27+00:00","dateModified":"2022-02-10T20:20:28+00:00","description":"One of Metsola's first actions was to functionally disavow her pro-life record by committing to sign a pact supporting \"reproductive rights.\"","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/maltas-metsola-flip-flops-abortion\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/maltas-metsola-flip-flops-abortion\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/maltas-metsola-flip-flops-abortion\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Pro-life Malta’s Metsola flip-flops on abortion, earns praise of pro-abortion groups"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","name":"Live Action News","description":"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization","name":"Live Action","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","width":701,"height":710,"caption":"Live Action"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/189f8a60121ec1992ae74917a7134f0f","name":"Bettina di Fiore","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3e31061bd16493d73f3e184e7dfec4d3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3e31061bd16493d73f3e184e7dfec4d3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Bettina di Fiore"},"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/bettina-di-fiore\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262499"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/788"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262499"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":262525,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262499\/revisions\/262525"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}