{"id":263024,"date":"2022-02-21T06:37:31","date_gmt":"2022-02-21T12:37:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=263024"},"modified":"2022-02-18T20:45:53","modified_gmt":"2022-02-19T02:45:53","slug":"malta-rejects-pressure-decriminalize-abortion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/malta-rejects-pressure-decriminalize-abortion\/","title":{"rendered":"Malta again rejects pressure to decriminalize abortion"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatovi\u0107, recently urged Malta to repeal its total ban on abortion, <\/span>claiming<\/span><\/a> the ban endangers women\u2019s right to health.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She further claimed the ban puts other rights at risk, as well, including women\u2019s right to life, to be free from torture and discrimination, and their right to privacy. \u201cIt is time for the authorities to repeal provisions criminalising abortion, develop comprehensive regulation of women\u2019s access to legal and safe abortion, and improve the availability of sexual and reproductive health services,\u201d she <\/span>stated<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mijatovi\u0107 recommended that the Maltese authorities should guarantee equality for women vis-\u00e0-vis sexual and reproductive health and rights, provide mandatory comprehensive sexuality education, ensure that contraceptives are available and affordable, and guarantee that conscience objections on the part of medical providers don\u2019t preclude women\u2019s \u201caccess.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Maltese government <\/span>rejected<\/span><\/a> the assertion that abortion is synonymous with health care and a right, stating, “Whilst Malta is fully committed to providing access to reproductive healthcare, and is working to improve these services, including the strengthening of comprehensive sexual health education, through a multisectoral approach, Malta does not agree with the interpretation that the right to sexual and reproductive health services includes an intrinsic right to abortion.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

The government also noted that EU member states have the right to make their own laws regarding abortion.<\/span><\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Pro-life Malta\u2019s Metsola flip-flops on abortion, earns praise of pro-abortion groups<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Malta has been resisting efforts from both within and without to decriminalize or legalize abortion for many years. Last year, a Maltese Member of Parliament, Marlene Farrugia, <\/span>introduced<\/span><\/a> a decriminalization bill while simultaneously admitting that no woman had ever gone to jail for abortion in Malta. The president of Malta, George Vella, <\/span>threatened<\/span><\/a> to resign rather than sign a bill that \u201cinvolves the authorization of murder,\u201d and the bill was ultimately defeated.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Similarly, in 2013, the <\/span>International Commission of Jurists<\/span><\/a>, an NGO that <\/span>describes<\/span><\/a> its members as \u201cAdvocates for Justice and Human Rights,\u201d submitted a <\/span>report<\/span><\/a> to the UN Human Rights Council equating Malta\u2019s pro-life laws with torture and claiming they unnecessarily endanger women\u2019s lives (even though the idea that abortion prohibitions increase maternal deaths has been <\/span>repeatedly<\/span><\/a> debunked<\/span><\/a>).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In <\/span>response<\/span><\/a>, Malta \u201creiterated the government\u2019s belief in the need to protect the right to life, including that of the unborn child. It expressed the view that, as human life begins at conception, the termination of pregnancy through procedures of induced abortion at any stage of gestation was an infringement of this right.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLike\u201d Live Action News on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0for more pro-life news and commentary!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatovi\u0107, recently urged Malta to repeal its total ban on abortion, claiming the ban endangers women\u2019s right to health.\u00a0 She further claimed the ban puts other rights at risk, as well, including women\u2019s right to life, to be free from torture and discrimination, and their right […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":788,"featured_media":245407,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[5,11],"tags":[19,15882,15883,1275,1500,15884,15880,10221,15881,9177],"yoast_head":"\nMalta again rejects pressure to decriminalize abortion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\""Malta does not agree with the interpretation that the right to sexual and reproductive health services includes an intrinsic right to abortion.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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